Election live blog 2

8:08 pm - Time for a new post.

8:11 pm - Not much coverage of the House yet, but CNN is predicting the Republicans will hold it.  There is even talk that the Republicans may pick up seats.  This has to be a major disappointment for the Democrats.

8:28 pm - Many close races in the Senate.  Chris Murphy has won Connecticut and Sherrod Brown is looking good in Ohio, but Elizabeth Warren is still in a close race in Massachusetts and Republican George Allen is ahead of Tim Kaine in Virginia. Joe Donnelly still has a narrow lead in Indiana.  It looks like it is still too early to tell if the Democrats will win or lose seats in the Senate.

8:44 pm - Michigan and Pennsylvania, two states where Romney campaigned during the past week and states that the GOP stated they had a chance to win, are both called early for Obama.

8:46 pm - Elizabeth Warren and Joe Donnelly both win Senate seats for the Democrats.  They are almost sure to retain their majority now.

8:53 pm - Obama with a narrow one percent lead in Florida with 84% of the polls reporting, but is doing well enough in the counties he needs to that it looks like he will win that state.  Obama is also leading by five percent in Ohio with 44% reporting.  A win is looking pretty certain now.

9:26 pm - Claire McCaskill has won in Missouri, another state where the Republicans should have won, but nominated an extreme right Tea Party candidate, who lost the election due to his comments on rape and abortion (see Richard Mourdock).  In addition to Murphy, Warren, Donnelly, and McCaskill; Bill Nelson in Florida, Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Bob Casey in Pennsylvania have all won key races.

9:32 pm - New Hampshire is the only swing state called yet.  Obama has won there.

9:36 pm - Romney has held the lead in Virginia all night, but Obama is slowly closing the gap and his best counties are yet to come.  Right now it is 50-49% Romney with 74% of polls in.

10:15 pm - I had to step out for a few minutes and in the meantime Iowa and Wisconsin have been called for Obama. He still leads narrowly in Florida and Ohio.  We are getting close to the end.

10:18 pm - Obama wins Ohio and has been re-elected President of the United States!