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LifeSiteNews.com is committed to bring its readers the latest information on the presidential race and other key races in the United States. This will be continually updated until the final result is known. All times EST.

11:18 p.m.: Obama has been projected the winner of Oregon—no surprise—and also Iowa. The president began his unlikely ascension to the Democratic nomination in 2008 with the Iowa caucuses. The electoral vote is now 264-210 for Obama. Florida also looks likely to be an Obama pick-up.

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11:14 p.m.: Barack Obama has won the state of Ohio, with its 18 electoral votes. This makes his re-election all-but certain.

11:09 p.m.: Mitt Romney won the state of Missouri and its 10 electoral votes. The state is, next to Ohio and Florida, is one of the most evenly divided swing states. The Show Me State split its ticket, re-elect Democratic U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill over Todd Akin. Republicans siphoned off resources earmarked for that campaign to Tommy Thompson in Wisconsin and Josh Mandel in Ohio, both of whom also lost their respective races.

11:00 p.m.: President Obama will carry California, Washington State, and his boyhood home of Hawaii. Mitt Romney will carry the swing state of North Carolina, which Obama carried in 2008. Obama hoped to repeat, holding the 2012 Democratic National Convention—dubbed “abortionpalooza”—in Charlotte. However, his opposition to the state’s constitutional amendment defending marriage, opposition to ObamaCare, and his ties to unpopular Democratic Governor Beverly Perdue cost him the state. Romney also carried the deep-red state of Idaho. Obama is now decisively in the lead where it counts, the Electoral College, 240-193.

10:55 p.m.: Tea Party champion Allen West has a narrow lead. With 90 percent of the vote counted, West leads Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy 147,138 to 145,305. The freshman Congressman spoke at this year’s March for Life.

10:52 p.m.: Barack Obama carries heavily Democratic Minnesota, another state Republicans optimistically believed they could flip. The state’s 10 electoral votes nearly tie the race.

10:49 p.m.: Romney leads the popular vote in North Carolina and Virginia. Colorado looks pivotal.

10:44 p.m.: Mitt Romney has carried the state of Arizona with its 11 electoral votes. That breaks the electoral tie, at least temporarily.

10:42 p.m.: Alabama voters have voted to nullify ObamaCare, passing Amendment 6, which forbids the government from compelling anyone to purchase health insurance.

10:25 p.m.: The Electoral College vote is tied again at 163-163, as Barack Obama is projected to win New Mexico. The state has drifted further into the Democratic column, largely keeping pace with its growth from immigration. Former Governor Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate and a former Republican, is currently taking nearly three percent of the state’s vote.

10:05 p.m.: Romney will win Utah and Montana. Neither state’s choice was in doubt, particularly Utah. Although the state has the highest concentration of Mormons, it is also among the most conservative states in the union. In 1992, Bill Clinton finished third, behind George H. W. Bush and Ross Perot. Minnesota’s vote looks ready to place the state in Obama’s column, which is also not surprising. Romney currently maintains a narrow electoral majority.

9:55 p.m.: New Hampshire has been called for Barack Obama, giving him four more electoral votes. New Hampshire was one of my states to watch. The trend does not bode well.

9:50 p.m.: Democrats continue to win Senate races, shutting out the GOP in Ohio (Sherrod Brown over Josh Mandel), Wisconsin (Tammy Baldwin over Tommy Thompson), Massachusetts (Elizabeth Warren over incumbent Scott Brown), New York (Gillibrand over pro-life champion Wendy Long), and Florida (Bill Nelson over the commendable Connie Mack).

9:45 p.m.: With nearly 70 percent of the vote reported, the state of Florida is tied. Obama is leading by less than 2,000 votes. Two counties in the Florida panhandle—Santa Rosa and Holmes—have not reported any votes, and Romney will win both handily. However, only 15 percent of the votes in heavily Democratic Miami-Dade County have been counted, and Obama could easily make up the deficit.

9:35 p.m.: Indiana’s U.S. Senate seat goes to Joe Donnelly, beating Richard Mourdock after the latter said a child conceived from rape is “something God intended.” Donnelly has campaigned as a “pro-life Democrat” and is endorsed by Democrats for Life of America. However, he voted for ObamaCare, which subsidizes abortifacient drugs and has a $1 abortion deductible. Republicans will, however, retain control of the U.S. House.

9:31 p.m.: President Obama has kept Wisconsin in the Democratic column. The home state of Paul Ryan made some believe the GOP could contest the state. However, it has narrowly favored the Democratic candidate for several presidential elections. The Electoral College is now nearly tied, 154-153 for Romney. Obama picks up three “swing” states in MI, PA, and now WI.

9:17 p.m.: Officials have called Pennsylvania for Barack Obama. The state, with a heavy Catholic electorate (nearly one-third by some accounts), has dashed Republican hopes. The GOP made attempts to win the state in the last several elections without success. Obama was speaking about Pennsylvanians when he made his remarks about people bitterly “clinging to guns, or religion.” The state’s declining population means Obama picks up only 20 electoral votes.

9:12 p.m.: Chris Matthews once said the Republican electoral map looks like an “L” from the upper Midwest through the deep South. That pattern holds again.

9:09 p.m.: Despite Romney’s family ties and a hopeful Republican campaign in the state, Michigan remains in the Democratic column yet again. Romney was born in the state, maintains a home there, and his father was a long-serving, popular governor. Romney picked up the second-largest state in the union, Texas, while Obama won the third largest, New York. Romney also continued to pile up votes in Louisiana, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Nebraska, one of two states that splits its electoral votes, will give most of its votes to Romney. Maine will give most of its votes to Obama. Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Colorado are too close to call. The electoral count now favors Romney 153-124.

8:55 p.m.: Election returns show Barack Obama with a large lead in Ohio and Florida, while Romney leads in Virginia. These are partial results. Florida looks particularly good for Romney, as portions of the panhandle have not yet reported, and they will favor Romney heavily. With little of the raw data in, Romney is faring surprisingly well in the D.C. suburbs at this point. However, Obama did better than anticipated in some areas of rural Ohio.

8:44 p.m.: Linda McMahon is 0-2 in her Senate bids, losing to Democrat Chris Murphy. McMahon ran in 2010, losing to Richard Blumenthal after his embarrassing debate performance. McMahon is by all accounts likeable and competent. The WWE wrestling CEO, who is Catholic, has twice run as a pro-business, pro-choice Republican who favors certain restrictions on abortion.

8:36 p.m.: Commenting on the Arkansas returns, former governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee credited evangelicals and values voters for Romney’s staunch stance. He said, “Chick-fil-A was dress rehearsal for today.” He added, “One of the things I wish Mitt had done was reach out even more” to evangelicals. “They’re not so much with him” as “scared of another four years of Barack Obama.”

8:31 p.m.: Arkansas has been called for Mitt Romney. Arkansas last went Democratic for its own governor, Bill Clinton. The Solid South has never seemed more impenetrable. Romney now leads Obama in electoral votes 88-75.

8:18 p.m.: Mitt Romney pulls ahead once again by winning Tennessee’s 11 electoral votes. The Volunteer State’s vote was never contested. Romney now leads 82-75. Either candidate must get 270 electoral votes to win. It will be a long night.

8:15 p.m.: Here’s something to watch: New Hampshire. Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio are the largest toss-up states. However, New Hampshire is a small state. Once reliably Republican where the endorsement of The Union Leader held sway, refugees from high-tax neighbors Vermont and Massachusetts have made NH more of a national bellewether. If Romney wins, it bodes well for Florida and Ohio.

8:08 p.m.: The presidential race tightened considerably at 8 p.m., when a large group of northeastern states threw their support to President Obama. The region is the most liberal and the least religious. Obama has won Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. He has also picked up New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and his former state of Illinois. He has officially won D.C., as well. Mitt Romney has won Alabama, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. In 2008, Obama did not carry a single county in Oklahoma. The Electoral College vote now stands at Romney-71, Obama-75.

8:01 p.m.: The largest group of states have closed their polls. Sixteen states, including Florida and Pennsylvania, have settled. Washington, D.C., has not yet been called but will certainly go for Obama. The District of Columbia has never voted for a Republican candidate.

7:57 p.m.: Early results show Romney pulling ahead in Virginia. However, the D.C. suburbs, including Fairfax and Loudon counties, have yet to report.

7:51 p.m.: Mitt Romney continues the Republican hold over the South, winning Georgia’s 16 electoral votes. The electoral vote now stands at 49-3.

7:40 p.m.: Mitt Romney has won South Carolina, a solid red state with the nation’s highest concentration of veterans. Its nine electoral votes bring Romney’s total to 33.

7:31 p.m.: Mitt Romney is the projected winner in West Virginia. The Electoral College total is now 24 for Romney vs. 3 for Obama. West Virginia, long a Democratic stronghold, has trended increasingly Republican in the presidential race since the Bush years. President Obama’s threats to “bankrupt” the coal industry cost him its support in the 2008 primaries and in both the last two national elections.

7:30 p.m.: Polls are now closed in Ohio. At this time, Ohio, Virginia, and New Hampshire are swing states that are too close to call.

7:19 p.m.: Vermont, a Democrat-dominated state represented in the U.S. Senate by a socialist, has been called for Barack Obama. Obama now has three electoral votes.

7:00 p.m.: Mitt Romney has been declared the winner of Indiana and Kentucky. Indiana, which President Obama unexpectedly won in 2008, has 11 electoral votes. Kentucky has eight. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.