a victory speech, which might explain why it took him so long to come out last night and deliver his concession remarks. the romney campaign felt like they had momentum over the final month, especially after that strong performance in the first debate. they thought they were hitting a target among their republican base voters, but in the end it wasn t enough. and, of course, let the monday morning quarterbacking or wednesday morning quarterbacking begin, but what is some early speculation from the pundits out there as to exactly what went wrong with romney s campaign? reporter: well, rob, a lot of things went wrong. first of all, the obama campaign defined mitt romney before mitt romney was able to define himself. they ran a number of hard-hitting ads attacking romney s strength. romney presenting himself as a successful businessperson who could fix the struggling economy, but the obama campaign tore into that, and romney never successfully responded. the other thing is the romney
there s going to be significant coastal flooding and significant beach erosions. it s unfortunately impacting the same areas impacted by sandy. it should be noted this is not sandy. it s not going to bring the same impact, but impactful all the same. even places like philadelphia could see light accumulations of snow. rob and paula, back to you. all right. thanks, jim. and now to a truly dedicated voter. a first-time mom-to-be in chicago began feeling labor pains. but instead of rushing to the hospital, 21-year-old galicia malone grabbed her bag and ran to her polling place. it was her first chance to vote in a presidential election, and she wasn t going to miss it, even though her water had broken and her contractions were, get this, five minutes apart. inside the voting booth, she kept telling herself, read and breathe. read and breathe. she says she wanted to set an example for her new daughter. and, you know, sometimes going to the polling stations can be as painful as birth.
they went the president s way. and that put him over the top. we have two reports to begin our coverage. tahman bradley is in boston. but first, t.j. winick is with the obama team in the windy city of chicago, where i assume the party may still be going on. good morning, t.j. reporter: rob and paula, good morning to you. that s right. it was actually a series of narrow state wins that gave president obama a decisive victory, despite an unemployment rate that posed a serious threat to his 2012 campaign. president barack obama won a second term tuesday, after a race that was primarily fought in just a handful of battleground states. you, the american people, reminded us that, while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up. we have fought our way back. and we know in our hearts, that for the united states of america, the best is yet to come.
reporter: the newly re-elected president spent the night here in chicago. he has no public events scheduled for today. he and the first family arrive back at the white house at 5:30 this afternoon. rob and paula? and, t.j., what demographics kind of helped him seal the deal? reporter: well, the president really won bing among african-americans, women, and latinos, and that s certainly what they were counting on. in fact, he won among latinos by an even greater margin than he did four years ago, and that actually raises serious questions about the future of the republican party and their greater broad appeal. all right. t.j. winick there in chicago. thank you, t.j. get some sleep. now let s get the view from boston. tahman bradley has been there all week. and, tahman, was the romney campaign really prepared for this? reporter: no, i don t think so, paula. mitt romney told reporters yesterday that he only prepared
beach erosion here. it s unfortunately impacting the same areas impacted by sandy. it should be noted this is not sandy. it s not going to bring the same impact, but impactful all the same. heavy rain up the coast, even in new england. even places like philadelphia could see light accumulations of snow. rob and paula, back to you. all right. thanks, jim. and now to a truly dedicated voter. a first-time mom-to-be in chicago began feeling labor pains. but instead of rushing to the hospital, 21-year-old galicia malone grabbed her bag and ran to her polling place. it was her first chance to vote in a presidential election, and she wasn t going to miss it, even though her water had broken and her contractions were, get this, five minutes apart. inside the voting booth, she kept telling herself, read and breathe. read and breathe. she says she wanted to set an example for her new daughter. and, you know, sometimes going to the polling stations can be as painful as birth. you have to