Archives of US Elections 2012

1. Puerto Rico unlikely to be 51st US state despite vote

   2012-11-14 06:27:05 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

   MIAMI: One week after Puerto Ricans approved a measure to become the 51st US state, doubts have begun to emerge over the meaning of the vote and their chances of joining the union.   Residents of the Caribbean island, seized from Spain in 1898, are US citizens, serve in the US military and have US passports, but cannot vote in US presidential elections.   The self-governing US terri...

2. Ryan says 'no regrets' over loss in US election

   2012-11-13 07:03:15 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

   CHICAGO: Former Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan said Monday he has "no regrets" over the 2012 campaign despite losing the election last week.   In his first public comments since Mitt Romney was defeated by President Barack Obama after a multi-billion-dollar campaign, Ryan admitted the Democratic incumbent "did a better job of getting voters to the polls."   "It hur...

3. Obama's final win in Florida gives him 332 electoral votes

   2012-11-10 22:57:56 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

   MIAMI: With almost all ballots in Florida counted, US media on Saturday projected President Barack Obama the winner in that state four days after he won Tuesday's national election.   Florida brings his total of electoral votes to 332 versus 206 for Republican challenger Mitt Romney.   Florida was the last state where the outcome was in doubt because three counties were still counti...

4. US political calendar leading to Obama's inauguration

   2012-11-09 05:04:20 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

   WASHINGTON: Construction is already underway on a huge platform on the steps of the US Capitol, where President Barack Obama will assume his second term on January 21, 2013.   Here is the political schedule between now and inauguration day.   November 13: Congress convenes for its "lame duck session." Senators and representatives of the 112th Congress elected in 2010 finish their fi...

5. Florida vote count delay reminiscent of 2000 debacle

   2012-11-09 04:50:06 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

   MIAMI: Presidential votes are still being counted in Florida, a protracted process that has evoked memories of the acrimonious 2000 election that was finally resolved by the US Supreme Court over a month later.   This year the Sunshine state did not play a pivotal role in the national race, as Barack Obama was re-elected Tuesday after winning enough electoral college votes in other states ...

6. Obama calls 13 world leaders

   2012-11-08 23:06:49 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

   WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama Thursday returned the calls of a long list of global leaders, including those of Israel and Egypt, who contacted him to congratulate him on re-election, officials said.   Obama also spoke to the leaders of Germany, France, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Canada, India, Turkey, Brazil, Colombia and NATO's secretary general, the White House said.  ...

7. Obama mulls new cabinet picks

   2012-11-08 22:41:01 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

   WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama, fresh from re-election and facing a new clash with Congress, got back to work Thursday, with an important item on his to-do list, stocking his new cabinet.   Obama is expected to lose his heavyweights including Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, for most if not all of his second four...

8. Obama, the super-rich and the election: Chrystia Freeland

   2012-11-08 22:08:45 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

   NEW YORK: Among the losers in the United States this week are the super-rich, who spent unprecedented millions to evict President Barack Obama from the White House. The investing class turned sharply and vociferously against the president many of them had supported in 2008. On Tuesday night, the plutocrats lost their shirts.   "Boy, they threw away a lot of money," Theda Skocpol, a Harvard...

9. For gamblers, Obama was a sure bet

   2012-11-07 23:54:10 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

   NEW YORK: While most pollsters had declared the US presidential election too close to call before Tuesday, many gamblers had pegged the winner early and got it right.   On Nov. 4, two days before US voters went to the polls to choose their next president, Irish bookmaker Paddy Power said it would pay out 400,000 pounds ($650,000) to those who bet President Barack Obama would keep his job. ...

10. Hollywood hails Obama re-election

    2012-11-07 23:10:15 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

    LOS ANGELES: Hollywood and the entertainment industry on Wednesday hailed the re-election of President Barack Obama, who won widespread celebrity backing and funding help in the race for the White House.   Stars took to Twitter en masse to welcome the Democratic incumbent's victory over Republican rival Mitt Romney in the early hours of Wednesday, after a bruising campaign battle.   ...

11. President Zardari congratulates Obama

    2012-11-07 22:10:37 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

    ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari congratulated his US counterpart Barack Obama on his re-election Wednesday, saying he was confident their countries' relations would "continue to prosper".   The fractious friends lurched from crisis to crisis in 2011, first over a CIA contractor who shot dead two people in Lahore, then over the US raid that found and killed Osama bin Laden, and finall...

12. Obama's re-election: the view from the global street

    2012-11-07 22:10:35 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

    PARIS: The news of Barack Obama's re-election as US President did not quite bring the world to a stop on Wednesday.   But from fruit-sellers in the heart of Africa to anti-austerity protestors on the streets of Athens, there were plenty of ordinary people willing to take a minute out of their day to express an opinion on it.   Like Angela Banda, who was selling her fruit in the morn...

13. Imran Khan asks Obama to end US drone attacks

    2012-11-07 22:09:41 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

    GURGAON: Imran Khan said Wednesday he hoped President Barack Obama would "give peace a chance" and stop US drone attacks now he had been re-elected.   Khan, leader of the Pakistan tehreek –e-Insaaf(PTI), has campaigned for an end to US drone strikes against suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan's tribal areas, saying they result in civilian casualties.   "What Pakis...

14. Obama win may be good news for Punjab flag-makers

    2012-11-07 21:02:21 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

    RAWALPINDI: Many Pakistanis fear President Barack Obama's re-election will mean a surge in America's unpopular drone campaign, but for those making and selling US flags to burn at protests this could be good news.   Demonstrations against Washington's programme of missile strikes against suspected Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants are common in Pakistan, and no protest is complete without a S...

15. Obama to visit Yangon this month: Myanmar official

    2012-11-07 20:14:43 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

    YANGON: Newly re-elected US President Barack Obama is to visit Yangon later this month, a Myanmar government official said Wednesday, in the latest sign of Washington's support for reforms in the former pariah state.   "Obama will come to Yangon on November 19. He will meet with the President and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi here," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding further de...

16. Victory in hand, Obama owes debt to Clinton

    2012-11-07 20:10:33 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

    WASHINGTON: After his stunning re-election victory, President Barack Obama's first phone call went to the one man who, by dint of passion and eloquence, did more than anyone else to pull him over the top -- Bill Clinton.   The charismatic former president wasn't on stage with Obama early Wednesday in Chicago, and wasn't even mentioned in the president's victory speech.   But Obama o...

17. Puerto Ricans say yes to US statehood

    2012-11-07 17:33:07 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

    SAN JUAN: Puerto Ricans voted for the first time in favor of their island becoming a US state in a non-binding referendum, election officials said Wednesday.   The Caribbean island is now a self-governing US territory. The referendum was held Tuesday along with the US presidential and congressional elections.   A total of 61 percent of voters said 'yes' to statehood, the local elect...

18. Re-elected Obama faces countdown to fiscal cliff

    2012-11-07 15:40:47 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

    WASHINGTON: Barack Obama's re-election as US president set the stage Wednesday for a fresh political battle over the year-end "fiscal cliff" budget crunch which threatens to force the economy back to recession.   US markets plunged more than two percent at the prospect that the White House and Republicans, who retained control of the House of Representatives, would be unable to compromise ...

19. World leaders hail Obama victory, pledge cooperation

    2012-11-07 15:40:40 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

    PARIS: World leaders on Wednesday hailed President Barack Obama's sweeping re-election, with allies pledging to deepen cooperation with the United States on fighting the world economic slump and maintaining security across the globe.   Congratulations poured in from across the world, including fellow UN Security Council members Britain, China, France and Russia as well as its staunch Middl...

20. Afghan president congratulates Obama on victory

    2012-11-07 10:10:17 GMT : (World/US Elections 2012)

    KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai Wednesday congratulated US President Barack Obama on his re-election, saying he hoped it would lead to an expansion of relations between the two countries.   "The president of Afghanistan hopes that with President Obama's re-election relations between Afghanistan and the United States, based on bilateral interests, are further expanded," his spokesman A...