At the top of the post I said out of the gate we have the following:

Obama          217               needs 53

Romney          191              needs 79

The battleground States     130

TOTAL          538

Here are the average of polls and these have been consistent in the last 3 weeks

Obama is in blue

Romney is in Red

Pennsylvania, Ohio; Wisconsin, Iowa; Nevada Virginia, Colorado, New Hampshire  = 86

Florida, No Carolina = 44

Now for a hypothetical look - Give Romney and Pennsylvania andObama ends up at 270 andRomney ends up with 268

Two networks have called Pennsylvania (13 votes) for Obama.

CNN shows a 300 vote difference in Florida (29 votes)with 78% of the votes in. However the bulk of precincts to come in are in Democratic counties.

So of the 130 Electoral College States votes in play we have this:

Obama       42

Romney       0

By this calculus Obama needs 11 from the battle ground States. Ohio is 18 and he is expected to pick this up. That takes him over 270

Well Kari ..

As I projected, President Barack Obama will win the 2012 elections.

It appears that President Obama might win about 297 electoral votes.

Ohio looks like it's Obama. That's 277 for Obama. Game Over!!!

Ohio will be in President Obama's camp.

In a few minutes California and the west coast will be in his camp.

President Obama the winner.

California to Obama, all wash and tun donk.

Status as before ...

President Barack Obama -- re-elected President.

Senate -- Democrat control.

House -- Republican control.

First to 270.............and more

President Barack Obama

NY Times' Nate Silver fivethirtyeight blog was spot on. He called the 2008 and 2010 elections almost as they happened. He was criticized by the Conservatives in October as his statistical analyses consistently showed Obama winning all the battleground States though by small margins. He also showed why Rasmussen and Gallop were not good indicators though he weighted them appropriately in his statistical modelling. The guy is bordering on genius. Jon Stewart and Bill Maher had him on and he never struck me as gung-ho for one party or the other. He just stated his conclusions like a professional, predicting Obama to get 313 Electoral votes.

The two Davids - Plouffe and Axelrod - are just pioneers for their times. The vaunted ground game they had in place since 2008 (in preparation for 2012) was just masterful. While Romney relied on a false sense of momentum and a riding of the wave of disappointment with economic circumstances, these guys worked tirelessly to get out the votes. They just out-performed the Republicans. I said back in 2008 that they make Kari Rove look amateurish in this age of social media and the Internet. Romney should have paid attention with his billions of campaign contribution.

The nation knew Obama was dealt a tough hand and they know the old days of high-labor-priced manufacturing are gone. They knew the path Obama was on and it would take longer than one term. They also knew Romney to be a fake and someone who was less than transparent - in other words not to be trusted.

Was evident and became clearer at the election polls.