of virginia. 13 electoral votes in this state. the current unemployment rate, 5.9%. 2008, president obama won the state by over six percentage points, the first time a democrat won the state of virginia since 1964. joining us from the university of virginia is the director of their politics center. larry, what are the issues being campaigned on in virginia? guest: the same issues as. every as the economy is for most, i suppose. if there's any special flavor into virginia, we cover all 50 states at the center for politics at the university of virginia, if there's any special flavor here, virginia depends on defense to a greater degree in than any other state except for alaska. we are second in per-capita defense expenditures. there's a special flavor on federal spending, because governmental employment is so important, not just in northern virginia, which borders on d.c., but also in hampton roads, the hampton roads area off virginia beach and the surrounding localities. host: what are the demograp

to maryland to virginia. our live team coverage starts right now. >>> thanks for joining us on this election night, i'm brian bolter. >> i'm sean nancy. >> we're going to take the national vote. mitt romney has 50% of the vote, barack obama 48% of the vote. none of that really matters though, because as you well know, it all comes down to the electoral college and that magic number, 270, which we're going to talk about extensively. >> virginia is a key battleground state. you can see right now. with 73% of the precincts reporting, still a very close race. >> democrat congressman senator jim web is vacating. it's been like this all night. 73% of the presents reporting george allen slightly in the lead over tim kaine. we're watching those northern virginia counties being countedment we know a lot of those will probably end up in tim kaine's column. >> let's move over to maryland now, where ben cardin is easily winning reelection tonight. also tonight, you can see he won handily there, 58% of the vote to 25% of

it was a virginia. the candidate canceled events planned in virginia for last weekend to allow law enforcement to prepare for hurricane sandeep. the campaign was quick to rescheduled and he was back here with three big rallies. this is a state he wants to win on tuesday. with the battleship behind him mitt romney unveiled his new running mate. in the final weeks of the campaign, the commonwealth had been a frequent stops for the campaign. >> a great virginia welcome. >> thank you, virginia. >> great to be here. >> the campaign knew this would be a key battleground. from the beginning, the strategy has been to come early come often san high-profile surrogates, set up a strong ground game, and most of all sticks to the message. barack obama had his chance. it is time for mitt romney to fix the economy. that has been the message in manassas. >> these are critical times in this country and so you have a choice. america is going to have a choice. he city cannot fix washington from the inside. we will give hi

>> i think in virginia it's possible romney could pull out virginia. but he's going to have to win virginia, ohio, colorado. he's going to have to win all of those states. if he loses one of them, it's over. >> let's talk briefly until we see senator elect kaine coming out here about how this election with the senate and the house. how, what kind of message this sends to the president-elect, and what kind of work they have to do with the house and the senate. they can say all they want about what plan they have. what plans they have going forward in the presidency. but it's a matter of getting that done. can they get it done? >> it's a mixed message, the voters are sending. there's been so much frustration in congress. now it remains the same. republicans have the house, democrats have the senate. but barack obama is going to have to work with senate leaders. that's going to be a test of the relationship between speaker boehner and president obama should he be reelected tonight. >> we were talking before that the senate will not have the 60/40 majority

of virginia. these numbers now showing that mitt romney is ahead, even though he's the more conservative of the two candidates. one big issue, the people talked about earlier was that the person who won this vote might not win by the popular vote. they might win by what happens in the electoral college. right now it doesn't look that way with 54%. we'll have to stand by and wait and see. virginia has 13 electoral votes. back to you guys. >> stay with us. we're continuing our coverage throughout the night. the "fox news" election alert. 9:00 on the east coast, 8:00 in the central time. a number of polling places in a just r of states have closed and here is the latest from the "fox news" decision team. beginning with the state of colorado, it's 9:00 eastern. the polls have just closed. it is too close to call in the state of colorado. wisconsin a very important state tonight. it's a bell weather and a toss-up state. wisconsin with 10 electoral votes and too close to call. here is one we can call in

the confidence right now from west virginia is palpable at home. >> craig: west virginia has not lost five in a row since 1986. they kick away. that ball pops out. clay recovered it at the 21 yard line. >> joel: there was some confusion about what happened on the penalties. i want you to watch up here on the sidelines for oklahoma. a bystander, the official is going to be running, jogging with the play, and gets knocked over. both of them hit the ground. that's what the infraction was. and what moved the ball all the way down inside the 10 yard line. he was only a couple yards off the sidelines. you got to be all the way back off that white, all the way back behind the line so the officials can roam and do their job. that's what that penalty was called on. >> craig: landry jones, 420 yards. sets up the screen pass. plenty of room to rumble. williams stepped out of bounds. boy, he had a lane to the end zone. right here you'll see, just couldn't -- right there, his left foot out of bounds. >> joel: all the west virginia guys pointing, right there, he stepped out. >> craig: three wide re

of virginia. people care about jobs. they care about the future of the economy. they want to see leaders that will work to get things done, to restore the american dream, but they want leaders that listen to your voices, who care about your voices, and what people want to see is a healthy economy in were small businesses are creating jobs again. there are some young people. this election is for you, to make sure you have the same opportunities we had growing up. unlike my opponent, who wants to be president obama's senator, i want to be virginia's center. -- senator. we are fortunate to have a governor who is leading a comeback in the commonwealth of virginia. [applause] of, you were in the legislature. so was eric. we cut taxes by $600 million and made our streets and communities safer and over 300,000 new jobs were created during those years. democratic legislature and what he was able to do is cut red tape and balance the budget. that's the kind of leadership that mitt romney will bring to us a

is it going to be virginia, virginia, virginia tonight? >> the turn out has been so incredible. people are exercising constitutional rights. at this hour we have people voting. and places like virginia beach, chesapeake and prince william. the lines were so long at 7:00. democracy is working and i hope it works in our favor. >> like you, i've been all over the state talking to voters and there is extraordinary fatigue on all the advertising and the expenditures. has this gone out of control? the cost of the senate race? >> i don't think. we spend more on advertising for consumer products by far than we spend on the commander-in-chief. this is the new normal. couple billion dollars of expenditures. couple hundred million of that in virginia. there's a lot at stake. biggest differences between the candidates probably since regan and carter. it's important. >> thank you so much for your time. back to you. >> all right. we'll be checking in again and watching virginia closely like everybody else. >> and watching maryland closely as well. ben carden has easily won re-election defeati

virginia could be crucial in determining who wins the race. across virginia, it is the same story. >> i have never seen it like this. >> voters in arlington eager to cast their ballots endured long lines outside and crowds inside polling places. >> it is one time a year. i can sacrifice onetime year. >> they know this is viewed as crucial. there is a sense of pride in loudoun county. >> it feels good. >> my vote counts. >> turnout in some places accedes 2008. >> turnout has been very good. >> some of those were determined to vote spent a good chunk of the day doing so. >> some people waited for 3.5 hours today. >> we did find an occasional look, especially around midday. >> it went pretty well. it was quick, fast. the problem at all. >> these virginia voters are thankful the weather cooperated. >> it is not too cold, it is not as bad as it could be. >> a lot of people coming and hoping to get in line before the 7:00, off. as long as they are in there before 7:00, they will be allowed to vote. here in sterling, the pulling observers say the rus

same with virginia. george allen, the republican ahead by almost 350,000 points but very early in that state. >> and obviously one of the things we're watching is the balance of power on capitol h l hill. >> and let's take a look at that at this hour. very early in the night. but right now, a republican you see here, 37 seats. democrats have 31. if you add that one independent that i just talked about, bernie sanders, that's 32. but it's very early and then all of those white seats in the middle, those are all the seats that are up for re-election. and we should remind our viewers, that's 33 seats on this day that are up for re-election. of course, 51 needed to have control, outright control of the senate. >> thanks very much. we'll continue to check in. let's check in with some of our analysts with david gergen and gloria borger are there senate races you're watching? >> i'm looking at the murdoch race. >> which should not have been as close as it seems to be right now. he was far ahead in the polls. >>

here at virginia tech. we disagree a lot. in any area we do agree, i consider him a partner. i will always work with the president of united states to be a partner. when george was in the senate, he voted before president bush 96% of the time. no one suggested he was not a virginia senator because he supported president bush. i have had a long track record of serving my community as a non-partisan city councilman, winning accolades for cutting building schools. when i was governor, we were the best managed state for business all four years, and my favorite, education week, the best state to raise a child. i did that by being a good leader and making the kinds of independent choices virginians want. >> senator allen, you have 90 seconds to respond to what he said. >> he had a choice to make when he was governor. he talked about the economic crisis in virginia. he chose to go around the country, demonizing republicans. he called them corrosive. he called them the downer party, the teabags party. that does not

virginia governor. he's been dnc chairman appointed by president obama and mayor and tonight he adds the title, virginia senator elect. by a slim margin he defeats republican challenger george allen to take over tha opened virginia senate seat. the seat opened because democrat jim webb decided not to run for re-election after a second term. it's been one of the most closely watched senate races in the country because it is one of the keyest of democrats. keeping control of the u.s. senate. we talked to virginia party chairman brian moran a short while ago and this is what he had to say about the big win tonight. >> we feel good. we've been looking at the numbers as soon as they started reporting and thank goodness northern virginia came in. once the numbers came in from fairfax, we felt real good about it. >> tim kaine winning the senate seat on the strength of the turnout in favor of northern virginia in places like fairfax, loudoun and prince williams counties. he'll be on the satage in about five min

including west virginia, virginia, and maryland. hometown forecast, wheaton, montgomery county near freezing and sunny. by the lunch hour, a few clouds around and partly cloudy there. here is the forecast for the entire region hour by hour today. thankfully, we'll have a light wind and plenty of sunshine through the daylight hours. highs reaching the mid and upper 40s by mid to early afternoon. right back down into the low 40s. the latest on that coastal storm in ten minutes. now a look at your traffic with danella. good morning. >> good morning. >>> still checking on the intersection of southbound prince william parkway, closed between i-66 and sudley manor drive. this is because of a crash at balls ford road. if you're trying to take prince william parkway from 66 and heading southbound, it might be best to jump on sudley to continue your commute this morning. that crash there does involve a tractor-trailer and does take time to clear up. d.c. 295 to bw parkway nice and clear. also, making the commute on the beltway in prince geor

. >>> por eso la atenciÓn estÁ puesta en florida colorado, nevada virginia y carolina del norte donde ha aumentado el entusiasmo para votar. >>> tenemos una masa crÍtica de voto latinos y porcentaje de voto blo vado. >>> este es el dÍa da desafio porque de acuerdo con el origen, cambian las preferencias al movimiento de votar. >>> hay Íntimas en relaciÓn al exterior a nivel nacional sabemos que el tema mÁs importante para votantes latinos es la economÍa y no la migraciÓn y la educaciÓn. >>> los estudios encuentra que la mayorÍa de los latinos le darÁ su voto a obama, pero este factor no lo llevarÍa a la reelecciÓn. >>> tienen que perder por mÁrgenes cerrados con blancos y ganar por mÁrgenes grande en latinos y afro-americanos. >>> ahÍ podria estar la diferencia reportera univisiÓn. >>> sandy cambio muchas cosas entre ella la forma de votar maÑana vamos a ver al tefrnmente para que usted puedan hacerlo. >>> sandy en new york, y new jersey allÍing a las autoridades a tomar medida de Último momento para que las personas puedan votar, en new jersey esta escuela con much

allen in mount virginia and kiaine in virginia. >> i'm optimistic that virginians will stand strong for freedom and opportunity for all. >> going to do all we can to encourage people to turn out today. it's been a long campaign. and kind of feel good about the race we've won and the vision we've laid out. now it's in the voters hands. i feel good to be here on election day. >> have you been surprised virginia has been a close contest this year? >> not really. i feel like we've worked our way. >> two questions people have to talk about. one will be on eminent domain and putting tougher penalties on the state. there's also a question to move the general assemblies. their veto session if they need to do so. i mentioned earlier, voter id. that could come into play this year if the race is very close this year. if it comes down to provisional ballots. could be a difference maker. this year if you did not have one of the forms of valid id, have to cast a provisional ballot and not be counted until friday when they have to come back to the election officials and validate that vote. if it comes

but virginia -- >> why? is it because virginia has so many college campuses? there's a university of virginia. >> up north where there's a lot of community college students who've been greatly impacted by it. good signs so far, long lines in virginia. not that long lines are always good from a democratic perspective. shows there's high turnout but of course too long a lines means that our -- our democracy's inadequately prepared for turnout which is something we have to move or by expanding early voting and technology and so forth. >> we don't want folks to get discourages and not vote as -- discouraged and vote at all. we had a representative. he had to cancel at the last- minute. so -- happens sometimes. let's get to topper. >>> all right, high temperatures today only 48 derek, the average high is 62. that's way below average. our michael & son weather camera live weather cam we're down to 45. a dew point in the upper 20s and they were in the mid 20s last night. so won't be as cold tonight. with winds out of the east and also with some clouds rolling in as w

this campaign was for the people of virginia. the people of virginia remain in our hearts. the people of virginia, until my dying breath, will have my eternal gratitude for the honor and responsibility of not just serving, but also being the one who got into the arena. there's a lot of folks who say, gosh, why did you get into this? you've got to get into the fight. this is a pivotal time in our country's history, and each and every one of you recognize the importance of this election in determining the trajectory of our country. we're not happy with the results, but we're still alive. so long as they don't kill you, can keep fighting. >> and in maryland, ben cardin will remain the u.s. senator from that state. as expected, he won in a landslide, defeating republican daniel bongino and others. >> maryland voters had a chance to vote on a host of issues. voters upheld an amendment allowing same-sex marriage in that state 52-48. those against the amendment had gaertded enough signatures to put it on the ballot. governor martin o'malley, who helped push for the amendment, cele

even virginia north carolina in pretty good shape. we'll be dry in virginia. temperatures upper 40s to low 50s and clouds roll in to north carolina throughout the day. raleigh stays dry. maybe might rain developing . just in time for the polls. nothing heavy. and in florida what you might expect, 60s, 70s. 80s for south florida. nothing out of the ordinary there either. >>> nothing out of the ordinary here. live weather cam. generally clear skies. 46. dew point in the mid 20s. winds light out of the north at 10. pressure rising. 30 .12 inches of mercury. satellite picture radar combined. this is our next noreaster. it's not one yet. but that will happen tuesday night. off the coast tuesday night. off the coast by wednesday. just light rain and showers. a few rumbles of thunder through southern sections of alabama. that will become our northerlyeaster into wednesday. right now clear skies and calm wind ands a pretty dry air mass. look for a cold night. temperatures in the 40s and 30s. 40 in fairfax. 43 in arlington and 43 in college park. freeze warning tonight

this is virginia now. virginia with 56 to 42 for mitt romney. too close to call. the next state on the list, as w're working through them tonight, is the state of ohio. ohio with 20% of precincts reporting, still too close to call. next on the list is the state of florida. florida now 56% of all precincts reporting, but in florida, it is still too close for the fox news decision team. next status pennsylvania, astoundingly still fewer than 1% of recent reporting, 888 we a a long from calling the state of pennsylvania. the venture and its four electoral votes, 5% of preci reporting. hampshire still too close to call. in the state of north carolina, almost half of all precincts are in. more than 2 million votes are counted for, but it is still too close to call in the state of north carolina. the state of missouri, less than 1% of precincts reporting. mitt romney with a lead there, but it does not mean much, not in the early going. we did not henoughata, and it still too close to call. here's the big picture -- mitt romney with 88 elelectoral vote. president obama w

from the old virginia. much more of the vote concentrated in those suburben and increasingly urban feeling counties in northern virginia. >> we have our all stars right here, larry kudlow, steve liesman and rick santelli. brian sullivan with us from democracy plaza in new york city. >> on the virginia thing, absolutely, the northern suburbs a new ball game. you grew up in virginia. >> i did. >> i lived there when i worked in the administration. two other key points, the tidewater region where the military spending and the across the board budget sequester is a huge issue and in the southwest part of virginia, the coal industry is another huge issue. >> interesting to see we are seeing the projected winners in indiana and kentucky being amid romney here. does this tell you anything about what's to come? >> i think it does. i think there's momentum here that's difficult to poll and some of these states will give us early indications. >> steve liesman, now as we go along, continuing to see these poll closings,

virginia. >> virginia. yes. >> you look at what has gone on the last few years, when you say battleground states what you need to have. in 2,000 it was florida, four years ago, ohio and this year, ohio is going to be key. let's keep it in virginia for a minute. you talked a minute go ago about the senate race going on between tim kaine and between george allen. tim kaine in his gubernatorial race, allen and also mark warner. virginia has gone increasingly purple. you have a situation where northern virginia, especially n areas of louden county and fairfax county, they have gotten progressively more democratic over the last few years. now, it's a different picture altogether when you go down to the county, parts of danville, over to roanoke. that is solid republican ground. for the most part, the formula to winning virginia, the last few election cycles, is to run hard if you're a democrat in the northern parts of virginia and do what can you around areas like richmond. that is a very urban voting block, str

but, virginia, my bet is on you. [applause] decency on you and the and the good sense of the american people. and it is not a partisan but i am making. when the other party has been willing to work with me to help the middle class, i am right there with them. i am happy about it. i would have less gray hair if they are ready to go. come on. [laughter] when we cut taxes for middle- class families and small business, we had some republicans for it. that was great. we had some courageous republican senators work with us to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." we celebrated that. we embraced them. i will work with anybody of any party that will move this country for. -- forward. virginia, if you want to break the gridlock in congress, you will vote for leaders like tim kaine who feel the same way, whether they are democrats, republicans or independent. leaders who will put people first and put the election aside for a moment. but we are still going to have some fights. because there are some values that are at stake, some pri

how do you think that's going to play out in how virginia virginia goes in the presidential election? >> virginia is not a state that says it's bad to partner with the president. so my first three years, i partnered with president bush. i worked with him on a lot of key projects. >> no surprises. >> reporter: of course, in 2008, virginia went for barack obama, the first time since 1964 that virginia voted for a democrat for the president. now, tim kaine, of course, is hoping that happens again but the kaine campaign also acknowledges that there are some romney voters and independents who will be voting for kaine as well. now we're going to head over to the george allen headquarters where my colleague andrea mccarron takes over. andrea, what's going on over there? >> reporter: i am with susan allen who in this day and age a candidate's wife seems to log swch mileages the candidate himself. what are you hearing on the road with regards to women's issues? >> it's all about the pocketbook. women are concerned about the economy, whether they can get a job, whether their children can get a

we're at 49%-49% in virginia. if you're in line in virginia, stay in line! >> stephanie: don't forget that. if you're in line by the time the polls close, you have a right to vote. >> if you stepped out five minutes before, i would say go get back in line and tell them you had to throw up. >> stephanie: by the way -- >> intestinal distress. >> stephanie: here's the best sign. a little bellwether from virginia. my sister lives in lynchburg jerry falwell's former town. she voted for obama. it is just a little bellwether. >> lynchburg near whitesville. we drove through there. very reassuring. >> stephanie: it's called what now? >> they're renaming it. >> stephanie: maybe i can gps around that. sexy liberal hal sparks, thank you for joining us on this -- what we hope will be a happy clappy election night. >> either way, stay in line! vote, vote! stay there! it matters. every vote matters! down ticket. judgeships. focus on your ballot. >> stephanie: we're back with some closing thoughts and some horrifying mitt romney video next on this debate night edition of ta

and governor romney really needs virginia. he's got to have it. >> speaking of gotting to have a state, let's go down to adam smith in florida. you guys had a poll out today, 51-45 that had romney ahead. this seems to be the same story that larry is hearing in virginia, i am hearing in florida, where the two sides insist they're ahead because they believe in two different worlds what the electorate is going to look like. >> i hear the same thing that both sides are convinced they are hearing, up by a point or two and this is a margin of error race. today was the last day of early voting in florida. democrats are up about 104,000 votes over republican votes, but that's significantly less than the advantage they had four years ago. >> a number i heard adam was 160, i think, is what somebody told me if they get to 160, 200, somewhere in that range, they think they can win -- that they'll get enough on election day to pull that off. that sounds like they're going to fall short. >> it's sounds like they're going to fall short and w

battleground state of virginia is on the line. we're at election watch parties in the president's hometown of chicago, as well, and mitt romney's hometown of boston. they're obviously anxious the to see if they can make our first battleground state projection ahead, stay tuned. [ woman ] it's 32 minutes to go time, and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity

does mitt romney win the white house without virginia? >> we're going to win virginia. mitt romney is going to win virginia. i'm here in the richmond area, and i've been out at the polls, all morning, all -- in the early afternoon, and the activity and the level of participation is very high in this suburban counties in and around the richmond area and the district i represent. these are counties, erin that went for john mccain at least in my district, portions of the counties in my district. we believe we are a strong republican area and are going to demonstrate so, even more so this time around. people are excited. mitt romney and paul ryan have all been here, many times, both within the last week. republicans are energized, they want to see a return to an economic future that has more jobs, more prosperity. and at the end of the day, that's what wins it for us here in virginia. >> now, as you said, mitt romney put a lot of time into that state, six stops in your state in the past week alone. the latest polls we have show it neck and neck. the presidesident ahead by o

imetraffic. >> thank you. >>> virginia was one. most closely watched battleground states and one of the last ones to be called late last night. >> democrats did very well in the northern part of the commonwealth with congressman jim moran and gerry connelly winning re-election and tim kaine taking the open senate seat. sherry ly is following the latest now. >> reporter: good morning. i would say that probably the biggest democrat to walk away with a victory from virginia was president barack obama. he has another four years. he won with more than 300 electoral votes including those here in virginia and after getting a concession call last night from republican mitt romney, the president says he wants to work with republicans. in virginia here, there were polling station as cross the state. this was a key to whether the president or mitt romney would win. in some places, voting didn'tened until hours later. state remained up in the air until well into the night. virginia was supposed to be one of the first to report but ended up to

virginia. bob schieffer is, this is -- you've been covering presidential elections since 1972. >> not 57 of them! (laughs) >> pelley: quite a few, bob. i wonder. the polling is showing us that the election is very, very tight. what are you looking for tonight? >> well, the polls are showing this as a tie in the national vote. it all comes down to these nine battleground states the nation is deeply divided, scott the red states are very, very red. the blue states are very, very blue. for example, illinois, california, and new york, the democrats are going to pick up 104 electoral college there and they did nothing there except go there for fund-raisers. that just shows you how sure we have of these states that are so blue and so red. but it's those nine states that we're talking about. that's what it's going to come down to, those nine battleground states and they are all-- with the possible exception of ohio-- all within the margin of error right now. >> pelley: norah, what do you see going int

virginia. and we've really got no real information but little whiffes of information, looking pret competitive in both places. so the romney people should be looking nervously at both those states. >> woodruff: why do you say that, because they thought they would be doing better? >> because of who is come out to vote, the exit polls. they looked close in those state and romney really has to win those. >> ifill: what information are you picking up? >> i'm always fasinated by david's whiffs, and i think virginia is interesting because they had to extend the voting hours in virginia, from normal closing. >> woodruff: based on long-- >> long lines that people were in lines, which i think-- democrats are always cheered by larger turnout. that's a rule of thumb. >> ifill: we just heard in virginia they had to keep the polls open or won't-- they won't report results until 8:00, even though the polls close at 7:00 because the lines are so long everybody in line get to vote. >> i'm looking for the ohio

bob, what is going on in virginia? what is the latest? >> bob: it depends on the turn-out in the northern virginia. democratic stronghold. the other issue is how big they turn out in virginia beach and hampton road area. promilitary. obama did very well down there last time. he won't do as well this time. >> eric: can i point something out?

the polls in virginia are open until 7:00 tonight. >> not only in virginia. d.c. and maryland, voters are waiting for hours to be part of this election. some precincts are slowed by machine problems. others are hoping with huge turnouts. more on the vote here's are determined to cast their ballots. >> reporter: we're live in eleanor roosevelt high school in green belt. one of the many voting places. the people you see behind me are mostly handing out campaign literature. there are no lines. that was not the case earlier. there were lines and equipment malfunctions but people did not give up. in prince george's county, some residents waited in line for hours to vote. >> we first got in. half the machines were not and they didn't have enough cards for everybody. >> reporter: some of the wait was because of the large number of people turning out to cast their ballots in the morning. voters told us, when the computers went down, that made the delays and confusion even worse. >> some of the machines were broken down. they lost half the machines. >> reporter: then there

yes, 13 electoral votes up for grabs here in virginia. if you needed any evidence as to how important this is to the candidates, just think about how many time we've seen the campaigns crisscrossing virginia over the last weekend. from saturday until monday, at least six visits altogether. it goes to show you how tightly contested this race is and the state board of elections working diligently to try to get everybody ready. as you know, virginia does not have early voting like many of the other states. so, while in other states, people have been able to kind of get ahead of game here and there, in virginia, everyone who did not already vote an tent isn'tee will be coming here to the polling place -- vote absentee will be coming here to the poll is place. the most recent average of polls showing kaine ahead with just a 1.8 point lead. one ballot question deals with question two. it is whether they can extend the veto session for the legislature, kind of move it by one week in case they need to. the other one is question one on the constit

the obama people expected when virginia, the romney people expect when virginia. somebody wins a big, they're probably right on the other side. neil: exit polls can be a lot of things, air, but the economy not surprisingly a dominant issue on a lot of folks-. but it depends how they play it. >> i don't give exit polls the slightest bit of -- neil: nodded >> i was losing by six points in the one buy three. neil: would you buy the fact that the economy would be a dominant force? >> in 04i was in this building. john kerry was winning by 86%. neil: he was putting together his cabinet. >> and 9%. we will find out if the exit polls are right when a couple of states come back and either validate -- neil: some are saying the economy is dominating. not all taking out their wrath of the economy on the president. many still say it is george bush's fault. >> i think we will see. virginia will be a much better test than any of the exit polls. if mitt romney can win virginia by 3 percent for better then republican model is working. if he loses it, well, we are going to need

of virginia. as we go to the presidential election, joining us inside the courthouse to discuss the commonwealth of virginia is role in the election, barbara comstock, whose district includes walden, a county. joining her is the chairman of the virginia democratic party. if we could start with you, ye is clouded such a swing county? >> it is an area that has a lot of commuters, professionals, and a lot of people this year who are very concerned with the increase taxes that we would see, do you reversed. as well as the deep defense cuts, which is something that would really impact the area dramatically. george mason and stephen fuller, one of the preeminent economists in our area said the defense cuts could cause a recession in virginia and almost double the unemployment numbers. bridget has been several -- rigid has been scary -- very successful in having a low unemployment rate. jobs is the number one priority. that is why we are very courageous that the numbers of supporters in for mitt romney t

of course, virginia is one of those states. how long a night do you expect it to be in virginia? >> well, virginia is an early close state at 7:00. earlier than almost anywhere in the country. so that is an important thing. and we'll know more about virginia earlier than a lot of places and a lot of us who like to watch county data and watch what's happening on election night will watch virginia very closely. we see the east coast sweep. how it winds up going. new hampshire, pennsylvania, virginia, north carolina, florida, going to tell us a lot. especially in some of those key counties that we were about earlier. >> all right. we'll be crunching the numbers with you. thanks so much for taking time out with us and sharing your insights. >>> tonight, stay with us for a special election edition of nbc "nightly news" with brian williams. it airs one half-hour earlier tonight at 6:30. and our election coverage continues tonight at 7:00 with updates and analysis of the local as well as the national races. i like that mac there on the skating rink. >> as long as no one skates on it. st

nbc news waited until 2:00 this morning to call virginia. >> the president has repeated himself in virginia. he won the commonwealth just as he did four years ago. the results were close with the president beating mitt romney 50%-48%. you see there 100% of the precincts reporting. a little more than 60,000 votes separated the two candidates. >>> virginia was one of the last states to be called early this morning, and you can see why. look at all the red areas of the state, and that would lead you to believe the commonwealth returned to red state status. but the president earned virginia thanks in large part to the large population centers. he received 70% of the vote in norfolk and also in hanson. and the president won the critical county of henrico near richmond. and in fairfax county, he received 59% of the vote. 71% for alexandria. 52% for loudoun county, and 57% for prince william county. >> president obama is also victorious in the district and maryland. he won in a landslide in both places. in d.c., the president won by 84% there. and in maryland he won by a convincing margin of 24%.

is that true of virginia. >> virginia, that has been true. when george allen was defeated for senator six years ago by 6,000 or 7,000 votes, virginia went right down, you know, they went back over that, i believe there was recount or reexpectation of the vote, less than 100 votes changed. it was pretty straightforward. new hampshire is famous for doing that well, too and so forth. other states have had bigger problems. >> bret: we should point out if we put that back up. that was the national popular vote total. that will pop up throughout the night as well. you will see the actual vote total through the night. these are all the states throughout the nation and there you see it as it continues to tick up and for us, after the iowa caucuses, the difference was added, 61256 right now so i don't have to pull out the calculator. >> megyn: didn't you get yelled at by math teacher for that. >> bret: i did. bill hemmer is at the billboard looking at what is happening in ohio right now. >> i'm trying to figure this out. good evening again. we are loo

the confidence right now from west virginia is palpable at home. >> craig: west virginia has not lost five in a row since 1986. they kick away. that ball pops out. clay recovered it at the 21 yard line. >> joel: there was some confun about what happened on the penalties. i want you to watch up here on the sidelines for oklahoma. a bystander, the official is going to be running, jogging with the play, and gets knocked over. both of them hit the ground. that's what the infraction was. and what moved the ball all the way down inside the 10 yard line. he was only a couple yards off the sidelines. you got to be all the way back off that white, all the way back behind the line so the officials can roam and do their job. that's what that penalty was called on. >> craig: landry jones, 420 yards. sets up the screen pass. plenty of room to rumble. williams stepped out of bounds. boy, he had a lane to the end zone. right here you'll see, just couldn't -- right there, his left foot out of bounds. >> joel: all the west virginia guys pointing, right there, he stepped out. >> craig: three wide recei

here in virginia. can you go to the state board of elections web site to see a complete list of those. on the virginia ballot, the highly contested presidential election. but there is also a very heated race for senate between democrat tim kaine and republican george allen. the most recent average of polls showing at this point kaine leading with a 1.8 lead but that is also really important because people are looking at whether the balance of the senate is going to change hands this year which could make some difference as to whether there is gridlock in washington or not. there is also two ballot questions that virginia voters will have to consider. the first one awards significant monetary damages for the state seizes a citizen's property under eminent domain. the second question allows the general assembly to push the veto session back by one week if that is necessary. but all in all, election officials are saying for people to expect a very long day. >> we need to be prepared. a lot of people tend

i said virginia and i meant west virginia. vermont for presidentbama. and, ofba course, in west virginia, not virginia, we're waiting on the edge of our seats to see what happens in virginia-- for mitt romney. so that's very early tonight. the two networks, however, have called winners in south carolina, and in indiana. and that takes to us margaret warn who are is at romney headquarters in boston with a guest. margaret? warner: yes, i am, gwen, and i'm here with william weld, ill weld, who was governor of massachusetts here from 1991 to '97. governor weld, thank you for joining us. how do you think it looks tonight? >> it's a pleasure to be back in boston. i think it looks very good for m.i.t. i think right along it has looked that way. i think the feing in the inmpaign is we'll takemp florid, north carolina, and virginia, thank you very much, and go on from there. >> warner: what is it you're counting on? >> myself, i think it comes down to people in the booth. and what they're going to reflect on when they go in there. without casting aspersions in a

virginia is a swing state, northern virginia is heavily democratic. if the storm had depressed the vote in northern virginia i think that would have been enough to tip the state to romney. it really didn't happen, virginia was not badly affected by the storm. jon: virginia is one of the states both candidates are fighting over. it will be fascinating to see where the numbers come down on tuesday. saba doe at the univery of virginia, thank you. >> where to begin the recovery from sandy that is one of the questions pwa. you have large swaths of the east coast, like the hard hit jersey store unrecognizable at this point. the super storm like a wrecking ball knocking out neighborhoods of popular seaside board walks and attractions. you have more than 70 people who lost their lives in this storm and more than 5 million homes and businesses still without power up and down the coast. >> where did you come up from? >> asbury park in long branch. >> you had to get out. >> had to get out, no power, no communications. i've got people that i need to pay, families

no democrat had won in virginia. that all changed when obama took that i should say hasn't won in 44 years. that all changed four years ago when oma was ableto win virginia and now it is considered a purple state. and expect virginia to consider to play a roll in these presidential elections as a standard bearer of what's to come. that's the latest here. back to you. >> thank you veryh . >> in maryland's senate race, ben carden defeated his challengers to claim a second term. the only upset of the night from congressional delegation game in district 6. bartlett lost to john delaney. orchestrated his defeat by redrawing district 6 to include huge populations that traditionally vote democratic. voters in maryland also waithed in on -- weighed in on key ballots. >> question 4 known as the dream act was also approved. it allowed illegal immigrants to pay in state tuition. holly morris is live with the result of question 7 which is the expansion of gambling. >> reporter: good morning. no one expected such a vicious campai

senator for virginia. >> two democrats from virginia in the u.s. senate, can't remember when that happened last. as we go to break, a reminder for election 2012 analysis you can follow@wusa 9. >> election night bulletin. president obama has won a second term. as president of the united states. in the last few moments, cbs news has projected that president obama would carry the state of ohio and with that, the president has amassed more than the 270 electoral votes necessary to win. repeating now the president has won re-election. this is the presidential race map as it stands right now. 270 electoral votes needed to win. president obama has 274. that is it. it is done. this is the scene in chicago at the president's victory rally. as you can see, quite a large crowd, quite an enthusiastic crowd, having just gotten the news that the president has been elected to another four year term. bob schaffer. >> president obama, despite the state of the economy, has become the first president re- elected since fdr with an unemployment rate this high. >> it's

fairfax, virginia. the second of two virginia rallies, governor mitt romney argued that he would end the country's political division. >> i am maureen umeh with the mitt romney campaign in fairfax county, virginia, where a rally wrapped up here at george mason's university patriot center. governor romney trying to whip supporters into a friendy and succeeding in doing that and trying to win the undecided voters in these last hours of the deadlocked race. >> you hope that president obama would live up to his promise to bring people together. so tosolve big problems. he hasn't. i will. [ applause ] >> in the land of hope. >> reporter: to madison, wisconsin, now. bruce springsteen joining president obama for one of his largest rallies yet in the state that the president said is critical to his re-election. >> the choice between returning to the topdown policies that crashed our economy or a future that is built on providing opportunity to everybody in growing a strong middle class. >> we had back -- head b

the ones we care about, virginia and ohio. they feel ok about florida and virginia. but a sign of trouble. jonathan martin is hearing the margins for him in chesterfield county just outside of richmond, where he is doing well, it is not good enough. if he's losing there, it's a sign of trouble in the state. in ohio, romney is worried about the midwest. wisconsin, and ohio, real nervousness. in the obama war room, confidence. exit polls looked good for john kerry. there are jokes about president kerry. but their models are coming in. the vote is coming in how they expected. >> one state declared is indiana, which obama won and it is called for romney. it shows the map is smaller this time, the map is smaller. some of the exit polling looks good, some does not, with what people think of health care and the role of government. people ask me, who should i vote for? what will they do? i have no clue. none of the candidates talked about what they'll do. it goes with what john wrote, about how small the campaign is in what is a huge moment. when you think of what is happeni