Most shocking election outcomes

[solarstorm]

Which state results were the most surprising ones in your own opinion?

My suggestions:
• Delaware
• Louisiana
• Massachusetts
• West Virginia
• North Dakota

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Honestly... Colorado - I expected it to be the closest state.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

I expected Romney to do a lot better in New England and Obama to do...less awful in coal country.

[Biden 2024]

I never questioned Obama winning in NH, but it was called earlier than expected, to be honest.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

What's shocking about Delaware? That was basically the result I expected there.

[Chaddyr23]

Can I say Florida?!!!

Working weekend after weekend, talking to everyone, phonebanking, and seeing the polls and then seeing us keep Florida competitive and LEAD most of the night and eventually win the state had to be my favorite surprise of the night.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Can I say Florida?!!!

Working weekend after weekend, talking to everyone, phonebanking, and seeing the polls and then seeing us keep Florida competitive and LEAD most of the night and eventually win the state had to be my favorite surprise of the night.

Agreed. I spent thousands of hours on a Congressional campaign, had the best time of my life, but in the end, we lost, which was not surprising in the race for Congress, but I expected Romney to pull it off.

[Redban]

I don't understand - why were you surprised about Louisiana, Delaware, West Virginia, and North Dakota?

Or are you being sarcastic?

I expected a better performance in the NorthEast for Romney. I thought he would be within 20% in New York, within 10% of New Jersey, within 10% of Connecticut, and within 15% of Massachusetts.

After all, Romney is a North-East guy, perhaps the best governor in Massachusetts history. I figured he would have appeal in the area.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

perhaps the best governor in Massachusetts history.

Where in God's name do people get this idea?

[MaxQue]

I figured he would have appeal in the area.

Perhaps he had.
The problem is than this ended being an election about Obama. People for or against Obama.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

After all, Romney is a North-East guy, perhaps the best governor in Massachusetts history. I figured he would have appeal in the area.

I believe I told Winfield this a week or so ago.
Ever heard of John Hancock? Samuel Adams? Calvin Coolidge? John Volpe? Mike Dukakis? Bill Weld? Deval Patrick?

[justfollowingtheelections]

There were no big surprises.  I guess I didn't expect Colorado to be that close.  I thought Obama would win a lot easier despite the polls.  Also, Obama winning in FL.
One thing I wasn't surprised by was how close Alaska was.  I had a feeling he would do well there due to being from Hawaii and because Palin wasn't on the ticket this time.

[Redban]

There were no big surprises.  I guess I didn't expect Colorado to be that close.  I thought Obama would win a lot easier despite the polls.  Also, Obama winning in FL.
One thing I wasn't surprised by was how close Alaska was.  I had a feeling he would do well there due to being from Hawaii and because Palin wasn't on the ticket this time.

They have only counted 63% of the votes in Alaska. Once the rest get through, Romney will probably be 20% ahead of Obama.

[renegadedemocrat]

Surprised that Obama kept Georgia quite close again.

[rbt48]

These surprised me:

Obama's win in Florida.
The size of the Obama wins in CO, IA, VA, and NH.
The narrow Romney margin in NC (while the Republican waltzed to a win in the governor's race).
The Senate races in MT, ND, NV (narrowness of the Heller win), and VA (large margin of the Kaine win).
Margin of the Democratic win in the NH governorship.
The number of seats the Democrats picked up in the NH H of R (something like 114).
Barrow's win in Georgia; close House race in HI-2, close House race in NE-2.
The slow vote counting in CA and AK.  Pathetic!  I guess it is typical in CA and perhaps the blizzards in AK have slowed counting. 
Romney's popular vote total perhaps not exceeding McCain's (though with CA, WA, and AK so slow to finish counting, he might yet beat McCain's total).
Obama's national popular vote lead.  I expected it to be < 1 million votes.

[MaxQue]

The number of seats the Democrats picked up in the NH H of R (something like 114).

Well, it's the number than Republican gained in 2010. 2012 seat totals there are almost the same than in 2008. I think than the Republicans have 4 more seats than in 2008 (which is nothing in a 400 seat House.)

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Not much really.  I expected CO to be a bit closer and I was surprised to see LA swing towards Obama.

Nothing really shocking happened last Tuesday.  I did make a thread about Ocean County, NJ.. but Sandy through that area off. 

[Panhandle Progressive]

Obama did better in VA than OH....again!

[Benj]

There were no big surprises.  I guess I didn't expect Colorado to be that close.  I thought Obama would win a lot easier despite the polls.  Also, Obama winning in FL.
One thing I wasn't surprised by was how close Alaska was.  I had a feeling he would do well there due to being from Hawaii and because Palin wasn't on the ticket this time.

They have only counted 63% of the votes in Alaska. Once the rest get through, Romney will probably be 20% ahead of Obama.

Who knows. Traditionally, the bush (the rural, mostly Native/Aleut/Inuit/etc. areas--quite Democratic) reports its results later.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

It would be hilarious if Obama randomly won Alaska (as unlikely as it is)

[Napoleon]

Being from Hawaii would have no impact on any candidate's performance in Alaska.

[AndyAJS]

In Alaska, Romney is currently leading by 14.13%. In 2008 McCain won the state by 21.54%.

There are more votes to come in, but the most recent returns have been narrowing Romney's lead:

Latest result, 2012:
Romney: 152,604 (54.86%)
Obama: 113,296 (40.73%)

2008 result:
McCain: 193,841 (59.42%)
Obama: 123,594 (37.89%)

[Oldiesfreak1854]

After all, Romney is a North-East guy, perhaps the best governor in Massachusetts history. I figured he would have appeal in the area.

I believe I told Winfield this a week or so ago.
Ever heard of John Hancock? Samuel Adams? Calvin Coolidge? John Volpe? Mike Dukakis? Bill Weld? Deval Patrick?

Hancock, Adams, Coolidge, Volpe, and Weld, definitely.  Maybe not on Dukakis or Patrick.  How about Franics Sargent or Paul Cellucci?

[mileslunn]

Here are mine.

1.  Obama gets over 40% in Alaska

2.  Romney does better in Arizona despite McCain being from there and the fact he did worse amongst Latinos than McCain.  I still expected Romney win here but thought it would have been closer.

3.  Obama wins by almost as large a margin in Vermont and Hawaii.  I expected Obama to win big in both, but I thought Romney would get at least 33% in both states. 

4.  Romney does worse than Bush in 2004 in Idaho.  I figured being the state with the second highest Mormon population, he would have done at least as well as Bush in 2004.

5.  Networks call Michigan on exit polls alone.  I expected Obama to win here, but not on exit polls alone.

6.  The networks call Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania for Obama before they call Missouri for Romney.  Not surprised at the results, just how quickly they called the swing states for Obama. 

7.  The networks call the race by 11:15 PM (Eastern Time).  I thought they would call it between 1:00 AM to 3:00 AM, mind you it seems this time around the results came in faster than in some previous elections. 

[hopper]

Romney winning Litchfield County, Connecticut. I thought that county was now out of reach for the R's.

Worcester County, Massachusetts trending Republican.