SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Tuesday could be long day for presidential race watchers
Nov 6, 2012, 6:58 AM | Updated: 10:58 am
MyNorthwest’s Election Night: Listen, watch, and get live results
With this year’s presidential election razor-close to the finish, Tuesday could be a long, exciting day.
“It’s election day. The biggest day in the life of a lot of political junkies,” says KIRO Radio Seattle’s Morning News host Tom Tangney.
National opinion polls make the race appear a virtual tie.
In state-by-state surveys, it appears Obama holds small advantages in Nevada, Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin, enough to deliver a second term if they endure, but not so significant that they could withstand an Election Day surge by Romney supporters.
“There’s a consensus growing that Obama is going to win. If you look at RealClearPolitics, Obama has a small edge, granted, but he’s ahead in 10 of 12 battleground states. Romney in only two, North Carolina and Florida,” says Tom.
“The general sense is everything would have to break Romney’s way. Not just 50 percent or 60 percent, but more like 75 percent of those battleground states are going to have to break Romney’s way to actually win.”
770 KTTH host David Boze tells Tom he thinks it will be close, but he sees Romney scoring an upset.
“Everybody is saying Obama is going to win,” says Boze. “I think Romney’s going to really surprise people. I think he’s going to take it.”
Obama and Romney spent Monday campaigning in battleground states holding the keys to victory in the tight race.
On Election Day, Obama will start and end his day in his hometown of Chicago. Romney is in Boston to vote in the morning and take in returns at night, but making a trip in between to campaign in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
“It’s not real common, but Romney will be voting here with his wife, Ann, in a Boston suburb – oh, in about an hour or so – and then jumping on Air Romney, flying off to Cleveland and then Pittsburgh,” says CBS reporter Jim Krasula.
>>Photo Gallery: What the candidates are up to on Election Day
The presidential candidates have competed furiously for votes in well-established battlegrounds.
Of the nine most contested states, five fall in the Eastern time zone, two are on Central time, one is on Mountain time and the last, Nevada, is on Pacific. That makes Nevada the last to close, three hours after the first polling place end times in the East. Polls in Alaska will be the last to close.
Political junkies could well be waiting for awhile to see how things play out in one or more of the battlegrounds.
Join us for special election night coverage, and live election results on KIRO Radio and MyNorthwest.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
