November 13, 2012

Florida’s Secretary of State declared President Barack Obama the winner of the state’s 29 electoral votes on November 10. With nearly 100 percent of the vote counted, Obama took 50 percent of the total, compared with Mitt Romney’s 49.1 percent. The president now has 332 Electoral College votes to Republican Romney’s 206.

The Electoral College is a constitutionally mandated institution consisting of delegates appointed by the states. Delegates cast votes for president and vice president according to who wins the popular vote in their state. A minimum of 270 electoral votes were needed to win the 2012 presidential election. President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden took the Electoral College votes of 26 states and the District of Columbia, a total of 332 electoral votes, giving Obama the presidency. Romney and his running mate, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, received 206 electoral votes.

The Electoral College is a process, not a place. The Founding Fathers established it in the Constitution as a compromise between the election of the president by a vote in Congress and the election of the president by a popular vote of qualified citizens. The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. The electors are usually people who are dedicated members of a political party. A state’s entitled allotment of electors equals the number of members in its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two for a state’s two senators. Under the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution, the District of Columbia is allocated three electors and treated like a state for purposes of the Electoral College.

Most states have a “winner-take-all” system that awards all electors to the presidential candidate with the greatest popular vote in that state. However, Maine and Nebraska each have a variation of “proportional representation”; that is, the candidate who gets 60 percent of the popular vote is given 60 percent of the Electoral College vote.

Some people regard the Electoral College as a roadblock to real democracy, robbing the popular vote of its importance. Others contend it ensures fairness and keeps states’ power intact.

Although the election of a president who did not win the popular vote is unusual in U.S. history, it is not unique. In 2000, George W. Bush lost the popular vote by about 540,000 votes to former Vice President Al Gore. Bush, however, was declared the winner with 271 electoral votes to Gore’s 266, after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that resulted in Florida’s then-25 electoral votes being awarded to Bush.

Additional World Book articles:

• Election of 2000
• United States, President of the
• War for the White House: A Legacy of the U.S. Constitution (a special report)

November 8, 2012

Barack Obama was reelected president of the United States on November 6, winning at least 303 Electoral College votes, compared with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s 206 votes. In defeating Romney, the president carried the swing states of Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia, and Wisconsin. He also took Michigan and Minnesota, where Republican super PAC’s (political action committees) spent millions trying to influence voters. Romney won North Carolina and Indiana, which the president carried four years ago. The president holds a narrow advantage in Florida, where the counting of ballots continues.  Obama is the first president to win reelection with unemployment above 7.2 percent since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936.

Barack Obama won reelection with at least 303 votes in the Electoral College. (The White House)

Republicans remain firmly in control of the House of Representatives. Democrats retained their majority in the U.S. Senate, taking over highly contested Republican seats in Indiana and Massachusetts while holding on to most of those they already had, including in Virginia and Missouri.

Six of the newly elected senators are women, raising the total in the chamber to 20, the most ever. One new member, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, will become the Senate’s first openly gay member. Voters in both Maryland and Maine approved referenda allowing same-sex couples to marry–the first time same-sex marriage has been approved by a popular vote in the United States.  Minnesotans rejected a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in that state. In Washington state and Colorado, citizens voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana.

Additional World Book articles:

• Joe Biden
• Election campaign
• Electoral College
• Paul Ryan
• Election 1936 (a Back in Time article)
• 2008 Elections: A Pivotal Choice (a special report)
• Tempest in a Tea Party (a special report)

November 7, 2012

Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States and the first African American elected to that office, secured a second term in the White House on November 6 after a costly, closely fought battle against challenger Mitt Romney. In winning both the popular vote and the Electoral College, President Obama, a Democrat, overcame charges by his Republican opponent that his policies were unlikely to restore economic prosperity after the severe economic crisis of 2008-2009. President Obama won a preliminary total of at least 59,600,000 popular votes and 303 electoral votes, 33 more than the 270 needed to capture the presidency. Florida remained too close to call as of Wednesday morning.

President Barack Obama was reelected president of the United States on November 6, 2012. (The White House)

Shortly taking office in January 2009, President Obama signed a bill allocating $787 billion for stimulus programs and tax cuts to revive the economy. President Obama also took steps to bail out troubled American automakers and to strengthen the financial industry. In addition, he promoted and signed legislation that boosted government support for pay equality for women. His signature achievement was the passage of a historic health care reform bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which included provisions extending health care coverage to about 30 million uninsured Americans. In December 2010, Congress passed, and President Obama signed, a law ending the ban on openly homosexual soldiers in the armed forces.

In 2009, President Obama filled a campaign pledge and withdrew all U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities. The Iraq War was declared officially over on December 15, 2011. He also set a timetable of 2014 for the withdrawal of all U.S. combat forces from Afghanistan. In May 2011, President Obama announced that a team of Navy SEALs had shot and killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qa`ida, the group responsible for the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001.

In November 2010, voters gave Republicans control of the House of Representatives. For the remainder of President Obama’s first term, passing legislation became exceedingly difficult. The president also came under significant criticism by a loose collection of conservative political activist groups called the Tea party movement.

Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., was born on August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father was Kenyan and his mother was American. He graduated from Columbia University in New York City in 1983. In 1985, he worked in Chicago for a church group that helped poor neighborhoods in the city. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991. While there, he became the first African American to serve as president of the Harvard Law Review, an important monthly law journal (magazine). Obama then practiced law in Chicago. He worked especially on civil rights issues. He also taught law at the University of Chicago.

Beginning in 1997, Obama served in the Illinois Senate. In 2004, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. That election and his stirring keynote address to the Democratic National Convention earlier that year gave him significant national exposure. Obama declared his intention to run for president in February 2007. He won the Democratic nomination against a wide field of competitors, including Senator Joe Biden and Hillary Rodham Clinton, the wife of former President Bill Clinton. Obama then chose Biden as his vice-presidential running mate and, after taking office as president, tapped Mrs. Clinton to be his secretary of state.

Additional World Book articles:

• Economic Crisis: The Banking Meltdown (a special report)
• Economic Crises, Then and Now (a special report)
• Economic Crisis: The Government Jumps In (a special report)
• Economics, United States (2011) (a Back in Time article)
• Economics, United States (2010) (a Back in Time article)
• Economics, United States (2009) (a Back in Time article)
• Economics, United States (2008) (a Back in Time article)

November 6, 2012

Tens of millions of Americans go to the polls to decide whether President Barack Obama, a Democrat, should be reelected or replaced by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate. The very long, very costly, hard-fought campaign dealt largely with who could better heal the battered U.S. economy and the role of government in the lives of Americans. Polls show the race is neck and neck, though the president holds a slender lead in such crucial swing states as Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Governor Mitt Romney

President Barack Obama

U.S. citizens are also voting on 11 state governorships, one-third of the seats in the 100-member U.S. Senate, and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives. Political experts predict that Democrats will retain control of the Senate and Republicans will hold their majority in the House. Turnout is described as heavy, even in those areas of New Jersey and New York that were damaged by Superstorm Sandy one week ago.

Additional World Book articles:

• Joe Biden
• Electoral College
• Paul Ryan
• 2008 Elections: A Pivotal Choice (a special report)
• Tempest in a Tea Party (a special report)

September 7, 2012

Barack Obama officially accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for a second term as president of the United States on September 6 in a speech arguing that the 2012 presidential election presents American voters with a “choice between two different paths for America.” President Obama received the nomination on September 5 during a roll-call vote of state delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.

President Barack Obama accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for a second term as president on September 6. (The White House)

In his acceptance speech, President Obama sought to rally his supporters, saying, “If you turn away now, if you buy into the cynicism that the change we fought for isn’t possible, well, change will not happen. If you give up on the idea that your voice can make a difference, then other voices will fill the void.” He also addressed disappointment over the pace of the economic recovery.  “Our challenges can be met. The path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better place. And I’m asking you to choose that future.” He argued that he had put in place the foundation for a revived economy but that more time was needed to address economic problems that had developed over several decades.

Political experts note that the president is faced with the political fight of his life against the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney. At the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, on August 30, former Massachusetts Governor Romney contended that continuing high unemployment had led many Americans to give up on President Obama. He argued that the president had failed to create enough jobs, cut the deficit, or increase incomes.  In his acceptance speech, President Obama responded by linking Romney and his running mate, Paul D. Ryan, to what he described as the failed trickle-down economic policies that favor the rich, noting: “all they have to offer is the same prescription they’ve had for the last 30 years.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Economic Crisis: The Banking Meltdown (a special report)
• Economic Crisis: The Government Jumps In (a special report)
• Economic Crisis – Then and Now (a special report)

August 31, 2012

Mitt Romney officially became the 2012 Republican candidate for president of the United States on Thursday, August 30, ending his six-year quest for the nomination. Two days earlier, Romney had polled 2,061 votes, more than the 1,144 needed for the nomination, during roll-call voting by delegates at the Republican National Convention. In his acceptance speech, Romney spoke of his childhood and family. He also contended that continuing high unemployment had led many Americans to give up on President Barack Obama and argued that “Now is the time to restore the promise of America.”

Mitt Romney (Abby Brack, Romney for President, Inc.)

Romney became his party’s presumptive nominee in April, when the last of a wide field of challengers dropped out of what had been a contentious Republican primary season. That month, Rick Santorum suspended his presidential campaign. By April, Newt Gingrich and Representative Ron Paul of Texas also had failed to pick up enough convention delegates to be considered serious contenders.

Romney, 65 years old, is a former governor of Massachusetts and a successful businessman. He founded Bain Capital, a private investment firm, in 1984. Romney gained national attention after serving as president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Before he took over, the 2002 Olympics had been plagued by scandal and financial problems. Romney had previously been a candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. president in 2008 but lost to Arizona Senator John McCain.

Additional articles in World Book:

• Election campaign
• Political party

August 28, 2012

The Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, reconvened on Tuesday, August 28, after a one-day postponement triggered by concerns about potentially dangerous weather produced by Tropical Storm Isaac. Party officials opened the convention on Monday but recessed less than one minute later. Uncertainty about the path of the storm, which had caused widespread damage in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, led Republican officials on Saturday to shorten the convention from four to three days. However, on Sunday, Isaac turned northwest, away from Tampa and toward the Gulf of Mexico. Tampa and other areas in central and southern Florida were hit only by strong winds and heavy rains.

Mitt Romney (Abby Brack, Romney for President, Inc.)

On Tuesday, delegates voted for their nominee for president. Mitt Romney received 2,061 votes, more than the 1,144 votes needed to win the Republican nomination. He was to be formally nominated Thursday, August 30. Speakers on Tuesday evening included Ann Romney, Mitt Romney’s wife; Republican Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey; and Rick Santorum, former Republican senator from Pennsylvania, who ran against Romney for the presidential nomination.

Additional articles in World Book:

• Election campaign
• Political party

Aug. 13, 2012

Paul Ryan, a Republican member of the House of Representatives from Wisconsin, has been named the Republican candidate for vice president of the United States. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced his choice of a running mate in Norfolk, Virginia, aboard the battleship U.S.S. Wisconsin, on August 11. The two immediately took off on a campaign tour of Virginia and Wisconsin, both important swing states. “Hope and change has now become attack and blame,” Ryan said of Democratic President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. “President Obama is our president and he has put all his policies in place, and they’re just not working,” Ryan noted in his initial speech as the nominee.

Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, first gained national attention in 2011 for his controversial 2012 federal budget plan entitled “The Path to Prosperity.” The plan called for about $6 trillion in federal spending cuts over 10 years, reflecting the belief of many Republicans that taxes and government spending must shrink to revive the U.S. economy and avoid a national debt crisis. Ryan’s plan also included the repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare,” a major health care reform bill signed into law in March 2010.

Paul Ryan (U.S. House of Representatives)

Democrats criticized Ryan’s plan, saying it favored the rich over the poor and the middle class. They argued that it would result in dismantling or drastically cutting key government programs, including Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security. The Republican-controlled House passed Ryan’s plan on April 15, 2011. However, it died in the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Paul Davis Ryan was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, on Jan. 29, 1970. He graduated from Miami University of Ohio in 1992 with a bachelors degree in economics and political science. As a young man, Ryan became an advocate of the philosophy of novelist Ayn Rand and of various conservative economists, including Milton Friedman. Ryan first won election to the House in 1998, at the age of 28. He has become a favorite of supporters of the Tea party movement.

Additional World Book articles:

• Congressional Budget Office
• Congress of the United States 2011 (a Back in Time article)
• Entitlements: Benefits of Doubt (a special report)
• Health Care Reform – What’s in It for You? (a special report)
• Medicaid in Distress (a special report)
• Tempest in a Tea Party (a special report)

June 28, 2012

The U.S. Supreme Court, in one of the most far-reaching decisions in years, upheld much of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s landmark health care law. In a 5-to-4 decision, the court confirmed that the individual health-insurance mandate is constitutional under Congress’s authority to tax citizens. The mandate requires nearly all Americans to buy health insurance by 2014 or pay a fine if they refuse.

The Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. (© Joe Sohm, Photo Researchers)

Legal and health care experts considered the individual mandate to be the most crucial issue before the court. Striking it down would have made it financially difficult for insurance companies to comply with other, more popular elements of the law without drastically raising premiums: Under the Affordable Care Act, for example, insurance companies can no longer limit or deny benefits to children because of a preexisting condition; and insurance companies must expand coverage to young adults up to age 26 under their parents’ plan. The act also provides subsidies to some lower middle-income households to buy insurance and to some businesses for insuring their employees.

A major provision of the Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid to cover a much wider range of lower income citizens. (Medicaid is a U.S. government program that works in cooperation with state governments to partly finance medical assistance to needy people.) On the question of Medicaid, the court ruled that the expansion could move forward. However, it struck down a provision that threatens states with the loss of Medicaid funding if the states refused to comply with the expansion.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., joined Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor in voting to uphold the law. Associate justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas voted against it.

The nine judges of the Supreme Court of the United States include Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., (seated, center) and eight associate justices: Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, Samuel Alito, and Elena Kagan (back row, left to right); and Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg (seated, left to right). (AP Photo)

Popularly known as Obamacare, the law is expected to eventually extend health care coverage to more than 30 million Americans who currently lack it. It was also designed to help rein in health care costs, one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors of the economy.

Political experts note that the health care debate is far from over. Republicans–including the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney–vow to overturn the act. Conservatives generally regard it as both unaffordable and an infringement on individual rights.

Additional World Book articles:

• Congress of the United States 2010 (a Back in Time article)
• Health 2010 (a Back in Time article)
• Entitlements–Benefit of Doubt (a special report)
• Health Care Reform–What’s In It for You? (a special report)
• Medicaid in Distress (a special report)

April 11, 2012

Rick Santorum suspended his presidential campaign yesterday, ending his quest to become the Republican Party’s nominee in 2012.  “We made a decision over the weekend, that while this presidential race for us is over, for me, and we will suspend our campaign today, we are not done fighting,” stated the former Pennsylvania senator at a press conference. An aid confirmed that he had called Mitt Romney earlier in the day to tell him of his decision.

Santorum’s move leaves Romney, the former of governor of Massachusetts, as the party’s nominee in all but name only. His remaining challengers, Newt Gingrich and Representative Ron Paul of Texas, have failed to pick enough convention delegates to be considered serious contenders.

Rick Santorum (U.S. Senate)

Additional World Book articles:

• Tempest in a Tea Party (a special report)
• 2008 Election: A Pivotal Choice (a special report)