Obama takes key battlegrounds to win re-election

As predicted, the election was decided in the battleground states, and as the returns emerged, it became clear that Romney was failing to win them.
Overall, Obama led by more than one million votes in the popular tally.

The president won his home state of Illinois as well as Romney' s home state of Massachusetts -- where the Republican previously served as governor. He also won Romney's birth state of Michigan, along with Colorado, Nevada, California, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Maine, Rhode Island, Hawaii and the District of Columbia, according to the CNN projections.
Romney won North Carolina, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, Missouri and Georgia, CNN projects.
According to early exit polls, 60% of voters said the economy was the most important issue, 59% thought abortion should be legal and 50% wanted Obama's health care reform law repealed while 43% wanted it to remain in place or be expanded.
The breakdown of voters, according to the early exit polls, was 73% white, 13% African American, 10% Latino and 3% Asian. Pre-election polls showed Romney holding an advantage among white men while Obama had the edge with white women, and Obama receiving overwhelming support among minorities.
With the victory, Obama will face the challenge of leading a country facing chronic federal deficits and debt as well as sluggish economic growth in the wake of a devastating recession and financial industry collapse that confronted Obama when he took office in January 2009.
Around the country, voters formed long lines at polling places after record numbers participated in early balloting, indicating a strong turnout.
Sporadic reports of irregularities included malfunctioning voting machines and other problems, including electoral hardships for some struggling to recover from the devastation of Superstorm Sandy in states in the country's northeast.
A judge in Philadelphia, a heavily Democratic city, ordered election officials to cover a mural of Obama at one school used as a polling location after Republicans complained the painting violated election laws.
Elsewhere in the city, GOP poll monitors were being escorted into precincts by sheriff's deputies after some observers had been denied access earlier in the day, said Tasha Jamerson, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office.
In New Jersey, which permitted electronic balloting in the aftermath of last week's storm, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union headed to court on Tuesday on behalf of voters who said their requests for an electronic ballot weren't being acknowledged.
Candidates usually take Election Day off, but both sides continued to make public appearances even as voting was under way.
Obama visited a local Democratic election center in the Chicago area, while Vice President Joe Biden made "an unannounced but long-scheduled" stop in the key battleground state of Ohio.
Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, also arrived separately in Ohio, with Romney's campaign plane and Air Force Two, which carries the vice president, crossing paths at Cleveland's airport.
Earlier Tuesday, Romney cast his ballot outside of Boston on Tuesday, while Obama previously became the first sitting president to vote early when he did so in Chicago last month./ CNN /със съкращения/