President Barack Obama was among those who got teary eyed Wednesday during a surprise visit to his Chicago-based 2012 campaign headquarters.

"What you guys have done means that the work that I'm doing is important, and I'm really proud of that. I'm really proud of you," he said before choking up, turning his head and wiping away a tear.

The president spoke for about five minutes into a microphone while hundreds of volunteers, many of whom climbed desks to get a better vantage point, listened intently.

When the president's emotions became visible, the room erupted into applause in a unified show of support.

The Commander in Chief told the campaign workers he had no doubt they would go on to do "just amazing things."

 

"You guys are so much better than I was in so many ways," he said after recalling his move to Chicago at age 25 with a goal of public service but with little direction. "You're smarter and you're better organized and you're more effective."

Obama said that even before election returns started rolling in on Tuesday evening, the pride he felt for his team made him feel as though the work he'd done in running for office had come full circle.

"Your journey is just beginning. You're just starting and whatever good we do in the next four years will pale in comparison to what you guys end up accomplishing for years and years to come," he told them.
 

Between the time Tuesday's presidential race was called and the time Barack Obama took the stage at Chicago's McCormick Place to accept his victory, the president made and received two very important phone calls.

"He spoke with President Clinton. He wanted to call President Clinton after Gov. [Mitt] Romney called because President Clinton was valiant on behalf of this campaign, and, as the president said, [was] our most valuable player," Obama's Chief Campaign Strategist David Axelrod said Wednesday.

"He really wanted to share the moment with him," Axelrod added.

For the most part, Axelrod said Election Night was mostly stress-free.

"The tense time is before the votes start getting counted," he recalled. "As soon as the votes start getting counted, you have models. You can see where the votes are coming in from. We knew very quickly that it was going well."

After a night's sleep at his Hyde Park-Kenwood home, an invigorated and newly re-elected President Obama stopped by his 2012 campaign headquarters in the Prudential Building to meet with the hundreds of volunteers who helped in the effort to secure another four years.

"It was a really emotional visit," Axelrod said. "There were a lot of tears flowing up there and a lot of joy."

Some of the staffers stood on desks to get a better glimpse of the president as he spoke to those who, as Axelrod said, "worked their hearts out."

"He talked about what public service means ... I think the most powerful thing he said was he talked about his own career as a young community organizer and he said to them what inspires him so much is, 'You're so much better than I was. You know so much more,' and he said, 'You give me hope.'"

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For Axelrod, it was his last hurrah in politics.

Back in January, Axelrod announced that he would head to the University of Chicago to create a new Institute of Politics meant to rival the Harvard Kennedy School. The University of Chicago Institute of Politics opens officially in 2013, but began offering preliminary courses in Summer 2012.

The most important number for President Barack Obama on Election Day was 270, the number of electoral votes needed to clinch his re-election. But for the rest of us, the culmination of the marathon 2012 presidential race provided a host of other fascinating figures.

From the numbers of women elected to the U.S. Senate to the stack of Donald Trump's disgruntled tweets after the race was called for Obama, here is a numerical guide to Election Day 2012:

303 – The number of electoral votes Obama was projected to have won as of Wednesday morning, with Florida still too close to call, according to NBC News. He needed 270 to win reelection.

206 – The number of electoral votes former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was projected to have secured, as per NBC News.

2,625,875 – The number of votes separating Obama and Romney in the popular vote count with 97 percent of results in, according to NBC News.

118 million – The number of Americans who voted in the presidential election, with 97 percent of precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press. The number is sure to rise.

131 million – The number of people who cast ballots for president back in 2008, according to the AP.

71 – The percentage of Latinos who voted for Obama in this election, NBC News reported. Latinos represented 10 percent of the electorate.

27 – The percent of the Latino vote that Romney received, the lowest for any Republican in a generation, according to Slate.

89 – The percentage of all votes Romney won that came from whites, compared to 56 percent for Obama.

327,452 –- The peak number of tweets per minute after networks called the election for Obama at 11:19 p.m. ET. Twitter said the moment was its most-tweeted moment of Election 2012 by far.

396,372 – The number of new Facebook "likes" Obama received on Election Day.

20 — The number of women who will occupy the U.S. Senate come January, which will be a record high, NBC News reported.

53 —The number of U.S. Senate seats NBC News projected Democrats held. Another seat was held by Democratic-caucusing Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, and a seat in Maine was won by Independent Angus King, who Democrats were confident would vote with them although he refused to say with whom he would caucus.

12:50 – The time early Wednesday morning that Romney called Obama to congratulate him on his victory, according to the Boston Globe.

43 – The number of applause interruptions during Obama's victory speech, according to a transcript of the president's speech.

1,118 – The number of words in Romney's prepared victory speech, according to the AP.

455,000 (and counting) – The number of people who retweeted President Obama’s "four more years" message with a photo showing him hugging his wife, according to Twitter.

9 – The number of tweets sent by Donald Trump after Obama was declared winner -- that Trump didn't delete later -- starting with "Well, back to the drawing board!" and concluding with "House of Representatives shouldn’t give anything to Obama unless he terminates Obamacare." Trump deleted other tweets alleging Obama lost the popular vote and calling for "revolution," Mashable reported.

4 in 10 – The ratio of voters who said in exit polls they thought the economy is getting better, according to the AP.

10 – The number of defeated Democratic House incumbents, according to Politico.

12 – The number of defeated Republican House incumbents, per Politico.

2 – The number of states (Maine and Maryland) that approved gay marriage by popular vote, bringing the total number of states where same-sex marriage is legal to eight.

0 – The number of states where voters had previously voted in favor of allowing gay marriage.

1 – The number of members of Congress with backgrounds as reindeer ranchers and Santa Claus impersonators, according to the Detroit Free Press.

7.9 – The U.S. unemployment rate on Election Day, according to the Bureau of Labor Standards.

973,759 – The number of Hurricane Sandy victims still without power on Election Day, according to the Department of Energy.

15 – An estimate of the percentage decline in New York voter turnout compared from 2008 levels, according to the AP.

32 million – The number of early and mail-in ballots cast in 34 states and the District of Columbia before Election Day, according to the AP.

$3.46 – The national average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline on Election Day, according to the AP.

Alexandra Ward and Sam Schulz also contributed to this report.

President Barack Obama won a second term on Tuesday, emerging from a long, punishing campaign with a new mandate to lead a divided and anxious nation.

"Tonight in this election, you, the American people, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have picked ourselves up," Obama said in a victory speech in his hometown of Chicago. "We have fought our way back and we know in our hearts for the United States of America, the best is yet to come."

For full Decision 2012 coverage, visit NBCNews.com.

Obama said his re-election came with a sense of accomplishment and a new surge of hope.

"Our economy is recovering. A decade of war is ending. A long campaign is now over," he said. "And whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you. I have learned from you. And you've made me a better president. And with your stories and your struggles, I return to the White House more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do and about the future and life ahead."

But the cold reality is that when he arrives back in Washington, the president will face the same obstacles he did before the election. With Republicans maintaining control of the House of Representatives, the era of political gridlock will likely continue.

That challenge was articulated by one of his most outspoken opponents, Sen. Mitch McConnell, leader of Senate Republicans.

"Now it's time for the president to propose solutions that actually have a chance of passing the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and a closely-divided Senate, step up to the plate on the challenges of the moment, and deliver in a way that he did not in his first four years in office," McConnell said. “To the extent he wants to move to the political center, which is where the work gets done in a divided government, we’ll be there to meet him half way."

Obama's triumph unfolded incrementally Tuesday night, as he racked up a string of victories in crucial battlegrounds. One after another, states that had been deemed competitive swing states before Election Day fell into the president's hands.

Pennsylvania. Wisconsin. New Hampshire. Iowa. Virginia. With each Obama win, the path to victory for his opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, got narrower.

Finally, just after 11 p.m. ET, NBC News projected Obama to win Ohio, his so-called "firewall" and the one state that has sided with the winning presidential candidate in every election since 1960. Obama's win there, thanks in large part to the state's support of his bailout of the auto industry, handed him the Electoral College swing votes he needed.

Romney conceded the race in a phone call to the president just before 1 a.m. ET. He then took the stage at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel, telling supporters that he wished the president well.

"This is a time of great challenges for America, and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation," Romney said.

Obama's battleground victories were so authoritative that Florida, which was considered the biggest  prize, wasn't even a factor.

Florida was the only state that remained too close to call as of 6:00 a.m. ET. Its results won't be known until after the start of business Wednesday. 

So many people turned out to vote Tuesday that Ohio, Florida and Virginia kept polls open long after official closing times to accommodate the people waiting in long lines that snaked from the doors of polling places.

Exit polls indicated that Obama was favored among women, young adults, singles and Latinos — the last group by wider margins than in 2008.

"Today is the clearest proof yet that, against the odds, ordinary Americans can overcome powerful interests," Obama wrote in an email to supporters.

The first person Obama called after getting the concession call from Romney was former President Bill Clinton, a campaign official told NBC News.

The former president was one of Obama’s top surrogates, and onlookers credited his speech at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte with Obama's "Clinton bump" in the polls.

Obama, Romney and their proxies spent nearly $2 billion, a record amount for a presidential campaign.

In his concession speech, Romney said he had no regrets and hoped that the country would move past its partisan differences to solve the nation's problems.

"I so wish that I had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direction," he said. "But the nation chose another leader."

Less than an hour later, at about 1:45 a.m. ET, Obama appeared before a roaring crowd at the McCormick Place convention center in Chicago. His wife, Michelle, and their two daughters accompanied him on stage while Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" blasted. Then they left him to deliver his victory speech.

Obama congratulated Romney "on a hard-fought campaign."

“We may have battled fiercely, but it's only because we love this country, we care so strongly about its future," he said.

The president went on to say that the rancor and rift that characterized the campaign was understandable, given the nation's challenges.

"That won't change after tonight. And it shouldn't. These arguments we have are a mark of our liberty, and we can never forget that as we speak, people in distant nations are risking their lives right now just for a chance to argue about the issues that matter, the chance to cast their ballots like we did today."

Obama, 51, the country’s first black president, won election in 2008 on a promise of hope and change, but he triumphed this time with a starkly different message: asking voters to stick with him as he continues trying to fix the economy and improve America’s standing in the world.

He defeated Romney, 65, a wealthy venture capitalist who’d been running for president for the better part of a decade. A win for Romney would have been vindication, of sorts, for his family; his father, George, ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968.

The 2012 race highlighted two contrasting visions of the country. Where Romney emphasized the need to lower taxes, relax federal regulations and cut government spending, Obama promised to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and deploy government’s help in pulling the country out of the economic doldrums.

Despite his image as stiff and disinterested in the plight of the middle class, Romney managed to make the race close by appealing to many voters’ disappointment in Obama and widespread anxiety about the economy. Romney promised to bring a businessman’s sensibility to the job, a point he drove home in the first presidential debate, which he dominated. That performance sparked a surge in the polls that made the race tight right up until Election Day.

But Romney, in the end, was not able to fully convince an edgy public that he could do a better job than Obama. Nor was Romney able to overcome Obama’s image as a more likable guy.

Now Romney may well have run his last race for public office.

Obama will begin his second term no longer a symbol of political catharsis but as a flawed but adaptive leader who took a lot of lumps and learned from them.

The president's re-election means there will likely be no overturning of his signature domestic policy achievement, the 2010 health care reform law. Obama has also promised to raise taxes on those earning more than $250,000 a year.

Obama must also make good on his campaign promises to finally correct America’s economic path by finding ways to add a million more manufacturing jobs, boost domestic energy production, reduce the county’s carbon footprint, shore up Medicare, cut students' college loan costs and slash the national deficit by $4 trillion.

When he returns to the White House, he won’t have much time to savor his victory, because he’ll face the threat of a year-end "fiscal cliff," when a series of tax cuts are set to expire and massive government spending cuts go into effect.

As he noted in his email to supporters Tuesday night: "There's a lot more work to do."

Deciding who has enough votes to control New York's state Senate could be two weeks away until absentee ballots are counted in some races, and it could be weeks after that before senators select a leader. 

In the Assembly, Democrats easily continued their supermajority. 

With most precincts reporting in unofficial results, it appeared two Republican Senate seats would switch to Democrats leaving the chamber tied 31-31, but that's subject to counting thousands of absentee ballots that could erode razor-thin winning margins. A new seat created by the Republican majority to help seal its control was too close to call Tuesday night. 

Democrats had sought to win the majority promising a progressive agenda that included raising the minimum wage. Republicans sought to hold the majority on a platform of jobs and fiscal control. 

A Senate majority leader will be chosen by the next class of sitting senators. But that decision is complicated by the four-member Independent Democratic Conference that broke away from the Democratic minority and has often sided with Republicans over the last two years. 

In addition, conservative Democrat Simcha Felder was leading Republican David Storobin in the 17th district in Brooklyn, and Felder said he might sit and vote with the Republicans if elected. 

Hours after the polls closed, it appeared veteran Sen. Stephen Saland, a Republican from Poughkeepsie who voted to support gay marriage, would lose, according to Tuesday's unofficial vote. And in Rochester, Democrat Ted O'Brien appeared to have defeated Republican Sean Hanna. That seat had been held by another Republican, Sen. James Alesi, who had voted for same-sex marriage. 

A new seat pitted Republican George Amedore against Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk in the 46th Senate District, but that race was too close to call with thousands of absentee ballots yet to count. 

Republicans went into Tuesday with a 33-29 majority in the chamber that requires 32 votes to pass any measure. 

Both sides claimed victory, despite the tense weeks of vote counting ahead and potential legal challenges. 

"We are confident that once all the votes are in, we will retain our majority," said Scott Reif, spokesman for Senate Republicans. 

Sen. Michael Gianaris of Queens, who led the Senate Democratic campaigns, also expressed confidence. 

"It's a great night," he said.

As it became clear that President Barack Obama was headed for another term in office, the most digitally savvy leader of the free world took to Twitter.

 "This happened because of you. Thank you," he tweeted, with a photo of him hugging first lady Michelle Obama, captioned "Four more years."

In the minutes that followed, the photo broke the record for most retweets, wrestling the crown from Justin Bieber.

Meanwhile, celebrities, journalists and politicos of all stripes weighed in on Obama's re-election, none with as much unhinged fervor as Donald Trump.

A selection of the night's highlights:

After many months, countless attack ads and nearly $2 billion raised and spent, the presidential campaign is finally coming to a close. To help put the long slog of a race into perspective, we’ve dipped into the archives and come up with a list of some of the campaign’s most pivotal, and memorable moments.

Rick Perry’s debate brain freeze

There was a time, more than a year ago, when Texas Gov. Rick Perry was considered the front runner among a strong field of Republican primary candidates that included Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, conservative talk radio host Herman Cain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum. But Perry had a crushing weakness: muddy debate performances. His string of live-action flubs culminated on Nov. 9, 2011, when he tried to name the three federal agencies he’d eliminate if he became president.

"It's three agencies of government when I get there that are gone," Perry said. "Commerce, Education, and the…what's the third one there? Let's see." Nearly a minute passed, as some of the other candidates tried to help him out with suggestions. But it did no good. “The third agency of government I would do away with - the education, the uh, the commerce and let’s see. I can’t the third one. I can’t. Sorry. Oops.” Later, he remembered: the Department of Energy. But it was too late. Perry was dogged by speculation that he would drop out. He vowed to fight on, but by January he was gone.

Cain withdraws from race

Even the most outsider candidates seem to have their surges of popularity, and for a brief time Herman Cain had his with a "9-9-9" tax plan. And then he fell just as quickly, as a series of women came forward with allegations that he had sexually harassed them while he ran the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s. Another woman claimed she had carried on a 13-year extramarital affair with him. Cain denied it all, but the charges overwhelmed his campaign, and on December 9, 2011, he dropped out, citing the “continued hurt on me and my family.”

Santorum shocks Romney

Perhaps Tom Brokaw said it best when he summed up Rick Santorum’s dogged candidacy by comparing the conservative former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania to a Hollywood action hero. "He's like a character in a Bruce Willis movie," Brokaw quipped during the head of the primary season. "He just knows how to stay alive.”

Santorum’s insurgency began with a surprising showing in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3. The Iowa GOP originally announced Mitt Romney the winner by eight votes, but reversed itself less than two weeks later, when a closer count revealed that Santorum had won by 34 votes. The difference was more than just a few votes; it established Santorum as a force to be reckoned with, and he rode that momentum for months, picking up primary victories in February and March. Romney finally got the better of Santorum in April, reeling off three victories that resulted in Santorum withdrawing on April 4.

Biden forces Obama’s hand on same-sex marriage

Vice President Joe Biden is known for his spontaneity, which can catch even his closest allies off guard. At no time was was that more evident than on May 6, when Biden went on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and declared that he was “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex marriage. The statement caught President Barack Obama by surprise, and effectively forced his hand on the issue. Obama had once stated his opposition to same-sex marriage, but had more recently conceded that his stance was “evolving,” and apparently intended to declare his support some time just before the Democratic National Convention in August. Instead, on May 9, Obama gave an interview the ABC News in which he endorsed same-sex marriage. "At a certain point, I've just concluded that, for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married." Biden reportedly apologized to Obama for upsetting the president’s plans.

Romney clinches nomination

The race between President Obama and Mitt Romney officially began on May 29, when Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination with a landslide victory in Texas. The achievement was largely symbolic, because he was already considered the front-runner, and most of his challengers, including Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, had dropped out. Romney, whose father, George, a Michigan governor, failed in his run for the Republican nomination in 1968, vindicated that loss and became the first Mormon to become a major-party nominee. "I am honored that Americans across the country have given their support to my candidacy,” Romney announced. “And I am humbled to have won enough delegates."

Romney picks Paul Ryan

One of the biggest problems Romney faced as the GOP’s nominee was ambivalence from the party’s conservative wing. His solution was to pick Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate. Ryan, the 42-year-old chairman of the House Budget Committee, was the author of a budget proposal that called for steep tax reductions, aggressive spending cuts, and a reorganization of the way Medicare and Medicaid operate. In short, Ryan was the answer to conservatives’ prayers: he was young, aggressive, well-spoken and, as a photo spread in Time illustrated, was in really good shape.

The choice highlighted the difference between the two campaigns on entitlements, taxes, the role of government in American life, and social issues, such as abortion. “There are a lot of people in the other party who might disagree with Paul Ryan,” Romney said at a rally in which he introduced Ryan. “I don't know of anyone who doesn't respect his character and judgment.” Ryan promised that he and Romney “won’t duck the tough issues. We will lead.”

Eastwood’s empty chair

On paper, Romney was the headliner of the Republican National Convention. But he was nearly outshone by an unlikely political speech-maker: Oscar-winning director Clint Eastwood, who was introduced as a surprise guest just before Romney was scheduled to take the stage in Tampa on Aug. 30 and formally accept the GOP nomination. Working without a script or teleprompter, Eastwood, 82, delivered a long, rambling monologue that mocked Obama and Biden. He arranged for an empty chair to be brought on stage with him, and conducted an imaginary conversation with the president. The crowd of delegates roared, but the speech delayed Romney’s by 10 minutes and dominated discussion of the night’s events.

The Big Dog returns

Obama, too, was upstaged at his party’s convention. But unlike Romney’s choice of Eastwood, Obama pretty much knew what he was getting when he asked Clinton to formally nominate him at the Democratic National Convention’s second night in Charlotte on Sept. 5. The president and Clinton had never been close – their rivalry dated back to Hilary Clinton’s primary battle against Obama in 2008 – but they agreed to bury the hatchet in order to keep the White House in Democratic hands. Clinton, out of office for 12 years, clearly relished the opportunity to invoke the fiscal prosperity of the late 1990s that marked his second term as president, delivering a sparkling speech that argued that Obama deserved another four years to fix the economy. Clinton continued stumping for Obama through Election Day.

Romney’s “47 percent” remarks

America got a rare glimpse of an unexpurgated Mitt Romney in September, when Mother Jones released a secretly recorded video of the former governor speaking to wealthy donors in Florida. Taken by a small camera or cell phone resting on a table, the video captured Romney saying how he wasn’t trying to appeal to the “47 percent of the people” who will vote for Mr. Obama “no matter what.” These voters, he said, were “dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them.” The video threatened to upend his campaign, and Romney, who had battled a prevailing image of him as out of touch with middle-class voters, immediately sought to contain the damage. He conceded the remarks were “not elegantly stated” and insisted, “this is a campaign about the 100 percent.” But the quote dogged him for the rest of the race.

Romney dominates first debate

It was the wrong time for the president to take a nap. Just when Obama seemed to be pulling away in the polls, Romney routed him in the first presidential debate on Oct. 3. The Republican aggressively questioned the president’s ability to rescue the economy, but Obama often seemed uninterested in fighting back. Split-screen views of the debate showed Romney castigating Obama while Obama looked down as his lectern, grimly taking notes.

As front runner, Obama appeared to have adopted a strategy of caution, which rapidly backfired. Romney immediately gained ground in the polls, and pulled within striking distance of the president. Later, after he’d had a chance to review a tape of the debate, Obama conceded that he’d screwed up. In an appearance at a charity event with Romney, Obama joked about “the nice, long nap I had in the first debate.”

An unlikely hero to emerge from the first debate was Big Bird, after Romney put the character’s employer, PBS, on his hit list of government subsidies he’d cut. Immediately, supporters of Big Bird took to social media to defend the yellow-feathered victim. That weekend, Big Bird showed up on Saturday Night Live to defend himself.

Obama went on to rally in the second presidential debate, attacking Romney as a wealthy, far-right candidate who was masking himself as a moderate. At one point, the two men got in each other’s faces, appearing as if they might come into contact.

Their third and final debate, limited to foreign policy issues, was more subdued, and this time it was Romney who took a more cautious approach, while the president used sarcasm to mock Romney’s lack of experience in international affairs.

Sandy forces a pause in the race

Hurricane Sandy pummeled the Northeast a week before Election Day, forcing the candidates to briefly suspend their campaigns. As the devastation deepened, both men held off returning to the trail until after the worst was over. Whether the storm affects the race's result is a matter of debate, as questions remain about how millions of people still without power or access to transportation will get to the polls.

Elizabeth Warren took back a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts for Democrats after beating Republican Sen. Scott Brown, helping her party hang onto its majority in the chamber, according to NBC News projections.

With 95 percent of the vote in, the Harvard law professor and consumer advocate had 54 percent of the vote compared to 46 percent for Brown, NBC News reported.

"For every family that has been chipped and squeezed and hammered, we're going to fight for you," Warren said in a victory speech Tuesday night. "We're going to fight for a level playing field and we're going to put people back to work."

Warren's projected victory came after a tough, contentious battle against the incumbent, who stunned the political establishment in 2010 when he won the seat held for 47 years by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. She will become the first woman to represent Massachusetts in the Senate.

Warren, 63, had the backing of the president, who tapped her to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and gave her a prime speaking spot at the Democratic National Convention this fall. She cast herself as a champion of consumers, the middle class and women, who overwhelmingly supported her bid, according to The New York Times.

Brown, 53, portrayed himself as a moderate everyman in a state dominated by Democrats.

"You've got no business in politics unless you respect the judgment of people," Brown said in a concession speech Tuesday. "And if you run for office, you've got to be able to take it either way, winning or losing, and I accept the decision of voters."

The race drew national attention for the amount of money poured into it — at least $68 million, according to The Associated Press — and for several flaps that came out of the months-long contest.

It was Warren's speech about the role of government in private sector success that morphed into the "you didn't build that" line Republicans used against the president.

"There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own, nobody," Warren said last August, according to the Los Angeles Times. "You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for, you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate, you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for."

President Obama riffed on that speech with his own, which became fodder for the Mitt Romney campaign and led to accusations that he was anti-business.

Warren also came under scrutiny after admitting that she had identified herself as a minority, claiming Native American ancestry in a law faculty directory. 

A Philadelphia court judge ordered poll workers to cover up a mural of President Barack Obama that was inside a polling place at a local school.

The uproar started when upset voters began circulating pictures via social media after voting at Ben Franklin Elementary School Tuesday morning.

The Republican Party quickly took action, filing a lawsuit that claimed illegal electioneering. The Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Rob Gleason issued this statement on PAGOP.ORG.

“Whether it’s blocking Republican Election Day workers form doing their job or violating Pennsylvania law by electioneering in the polling place, it is clear the Obama campaign has taken their campaign in the gutter to manipulate this election however they can.  Based on the Obama campaign’s behavior today, it certainly raises the question: what are Democrats doing in the polls that they are working so hard to shield folks from monitoring this election?”

Judge Milton Younge, Jr. of the Court of Common Pleas ordered that the mural be covered for the rest of election day with "blank paper or similar material" and "in its entirety," according to NBC News' Pete Williams.

As of 2 p.m., the mural was not entirely covered. NBC10 snapped a picture showing three sheets of paper covering the president's face.

In other Pennsylvania election news, a Department of State official told The Associated Press that a voting machine was recalibrated and put back into service after a Perry County voter reported that it had switched his switched his vote from Obama to Mitt Romney.

Someone has to introduce the president.

On Monday, the final day of the presidential campaign, President Barack Obama, however, didn't bring along an opening act. He brought along two main acts.

Bruce Springsteen. Jay-Z. Theirs wasn't an introduction, it was pop culture moment.

The Boss was spending the entire day with Obama, traveling on Air Force One from Madison, Wis., to Columbus, Ohio, and then to Des Moines, Iowa, where Obama planned a coda for his campaign, a finale where his run for the presidency began five years ago.

Jay-Z boomed his way into Columbus's Nationwide Arena, performing a rendition of his hit "99 Problems" with a political twist for a crowd estimated by fire officials at more than 15,000 people. He changed a key R-rated word to make his own political endorsement. "I got 99 problems but Mitt ain't one," he sang.

"They tell the story of what our country is," Obama said of the two performers, "but also of what it should be and what it can be."

Springsteen added a whole new sense of vigor, even giddiness, to the Obama entourage, with many of the president's aides and advisers clearly star-struck by the rocker's presence.

Springsteen, in jeans, black boots, a work shirt, vest and leather jacket, was not wearing the typical Air Force One attire. But the Obama camp has left formality aside; many aides are growing beards through Election Day and ties have been left behind in favor of sweaters for the chilly outdoor events during the last hours of the campaign.

Asked if there was any downside to using celebrity glitz instead of substance to drive voters to the polls in the final days, Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki laughed. "I think Bruce Springsteen might be offended by you calling him glitzy," she said.

"Bruce Springsteen, and some other celebrities who have been helping us, reach a broad audience that sometimes tune out what's being said by politicians," she said.

As Psaki spoke to reporters at the back of the plane, Obama was up front and on the phone with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie discussing the recovery from Superstorm Sandy. Christie, who says he has attended more than 100 Springsteen concerts, said Obama then handed the phone to Springsteen, a New Jersey native whose songs often have been tributes to his youth in the state.

Upon landing in Columbus, Springsteen told a reporter that it was his first trip on Air Force One. Grinning, he said: "It was pretty cool." As for New Jersey, he said "I'm feeling pretty hopeful" that the state's hard-hit shore will recover

In Madison and Columbus, Springsteen serenaded audiences with renditions of top anthems "No Surrender," ''Promised Land," and "Land of Hope and Dreams." But he also has a custom made campaign song named after the Obama motto "Forward" - "Not the best I've ever written."

"How many things rhyme with Obama?" he asked.

Obama, no doubt, didn't mind.

"I'm going to be fine with Bruce Springsteen on the last day that I'll ever campaign," he said above the din of the crowd.

"That's not a bad way to bring it home. With The Boss. With The Boss"

With just five days left before Election Day, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his support for President Barack Obama in an unexpected endorsement prompted by the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy.

The mayor, a political independent, who has been a sharp critic of both Obama and Romney, explained in an op-ed article for Bloomberg View that the superstorm—the second in 14 months to force evacuations in parts of New York City— "brought the stakes of next Tuesday's presidential election into sharp relief."

It was Obama's environmental policies that ultimately swayed the influential mayor. "Our climate is changing," Bloomberg wrote in the piece titled "A Vote for a President to Lead on Climate Change."

"While the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in New York City and around the world may or may not be the result of it, the risk that it might be—given this week's devastation—should compel all elected leaders to take immediate action," he added.

Bloomberg praised Obama's efforts to reduce carbon consumption, noting the president's work to raise fuel-efficiency standards and to adopt tighter controls of mercury emissions. But he balanced that praise with a hefty dose of criticism.

"As a president, he devoted little time and effort to developing and sustaining a coalition of centrists, which doomed hope for any real progress on illegal guns, immigration, tax reform, job creation and deficit reduction," Bloomberg wrote. "And rather than uniting the country around a message of shared sacrifice, he engaged in partisan attacks and has embraced a divisive populist agenda focused more on redistributing income than creating it."

He also expressed disappointment in Romney's shifted views on the environment, immigration, abortion rights, illegal guns and health care, noting that, "If the 1994 or 2003 version of Mitt Romney were running for president, I may well have voted for him, because, like so many other independents, I have found the past four year to be, in a word, disappointing."

He did praise Romney's business experience and called him "a good decent man," but boiled his final decision down to the following observations:

"One believes a woman's right to choose should be protected for future generations; one does not ... One recognizes marriage equality as consistent with America's march of freedom; one does not ... One sees climate change as an urgent problem that threatens our planet; one does not."

He added that neither candidate "has specified what hard decision he will make to get our economy back on track while also balancing the budget" but said that what matters more is finding bipartisan solutions, which he noted Obama could do by listening "to people on both sides of the aisle" and by building the trust of moderates.

Obama said he was "honored" to have the mayor's endorsement.

"While we may not agree on every issue, Mayor Bloomberg and I agree on the most important issues of our time," Obama wrote in a statement. "That the key to a strong economy is investing in the skills and education of our people, that immigration reform is essential to an open and dynamic democracy, and that climate change is a threat to our children's future, and we owe it to them to do something about it."

The president added that he appreciates "the extraordinary job [Bloomberg is] doing" to help his city rebound from the devastation left in Sandy's wake, and vowed to stand by New York in its time of need.  

“New Yorkers have my word that we will recover, we will rebuild, and we will come back stronger."

Three days after an unprecedented storm surge inundated parts of New York City that had never been under water, the city’s death toll had ticked up to 37, more than half a million homes and businesses were still in the dark, and the city’s transit system remained crippled.

The mayor noted in his endorsement that efforts made on the local level to take on the sort of extreme weather that had blighted parts of his city were not enough. “We need leadership from the White House.”

Bloomberg, who is in his third term as mayor, recently established a super PAC to support state, federal and local candidates from any political party, as well as independents, who share his views on same-sex marriage, gun control or school reform, The New York Times reported.

He plans to spend $10 million to $15 million of his own money to “influence national policy" around those issues one adviser told the Times.

Bloomberg endorsed President George W. Bush in 2004 and did not endorse any candidate in 2008.

“Girls” creator and actress Lena Dunham talked about her “first time” in a suggestive video for President’s Obama campaign. Her first time voting that is.

The video, released on Thursday by the Obama campaign and called "Your First Time," features the 26-year-old HBO star talking about how the president took her voting virginity.

"Your first time shouldn't be with just anybody. You want to do it with a great guy," she says in the video.

The video riffs on issues including the war in Iraq, health care and gay marriage, with Dunham calling Obama the candidate who “cares about and understands women.”

"My first time voting was amazing. It was this line in the sand," she deadpans. "Before I was a girl. Now I was a woman."

The video has sparked some controversy, with a writer on the conservative site Breitbart.com calling it "astoundingly tasteless".

Foreign Policy noted that the "first time" idea has also been used in another political campaign -- for an ad supporting Russia's Vladimir Putin.

President Barack Obama weighed in on the controversial rape comments made by Republican Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock during his appearance on "The Tonight Show" Wednesday, saying "rape is rape."

The president's comments came a day after Mourdock set off a firestorm of criticism for saying during a debate that he opposes abortion even in cases of rape, since new life "is something God intended to happen." Mourdock said Wednesday that his words had been "twisted," emphasizing that God creates life, not that God wants rape to occur.

"I don't know how these guys come up with these ideas," Obama said, seizing on comments by Mourdock and earlier "legitimate rape" comments by Republican Senate hopeful, Missouri's Todd Akin. "Let me make a very simple proposition. Rape is rape. It is a crime."

For full election coverage visit NBCNews.com.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who supports abortion in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the woman is in danger, has distanced himself from Mourdock's earlier comments.

"Gov. Romney disagrees with Richard Mourdock and Mr. Mourdock's statements do not reflect Gov. Romney's views," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement.

Still, Romney stood by his endorsement of Mourdock and has refused calls by prominent Democrats to pull an ad he taped on behalf of the fellow Republican.

Obama did not directly tie Romney to Mourdock during his late-night appearance, though his campaign released a new ad late Wednesday linking the pair.

"Women are capable of making these decisions in consultation with their partners, with their doctors," Obama told Leno. "For politicians to want to intrude in this stuff, oftentimes without any information, is a huge problem."

During Obama's "Tonight Show" appearance, his third since becoming president and his fifth overall, Leno also touched on Donald Trump's ongoing grudge against the president.

Hours earlier, Trump offered to donate $5 million to a charity of Obama's choosing if he releases his college and passport applications.

Obama joked that their feud dated back to their childhood days "in Kenya."

"We had constant run-ins on the soccer fields, he wasn't very good and resented it," Obama said. "When we finally moved to America, I thought it would be over."

Donald Trump’s so-called October surprise is an offer to give away $5 million to charity if President Barack Obama releases his academic records and passport applications.

“If Barack Obama opens up and gives his college records and applications, and if he gives his passport applications and records, I will give to a charity of his choice,” Trump said in a YouTube video posted to his Facebook page on Wednesday.

The “Celebrity Apprentice” host and real estate mogul had fueled speculation about what he had in store after pledging earlier this week to deliver a "very big" announcement.

“Something very, very big concerning the president of the United States,” Trump said in talking up the planned stunt on “Fox & Friends.”

Trump, who is a prominent supporter of Mitt Romney, said in his video Wednesday that Obama would be doing a “great service for the country” if he accepted the deal. The video was titled "From the Desk of Donald Trump: Major Announcement." 

Trump kicked off the video by calling Obama the “least transparent president” in U.S. history, and said he was “honored” for having succeeded in getting Obama to release his long form birth certificate – “or whatever it may be.”

Politico noted that European betting house Paddy Power had been taking wagers on possible Trump announcements (“Obama is an Alien” had 250/1 odds). Later Wednesday afternoon, Paddy Power listed the odds of Obama accepting the deal by Trump's Oct. 31 deadline as 12/1.

Obama campaign senior adviser David Plouffe brushed off the offer in comments to reporters, NBC News reported.

"Direct questions to Boston because Donald Trump is Mitt Romney's biggest supporter so he owns everything he says," he said.
 

Clint Eastwood has waded back into the presidential election, narrating a new ad in support of GOP candidate Mitt Romney.

Eastwood narrates a 30-second spot called "At Stake," saying, "If someone doesn't get the job done, you have to hold them accountable. Obama's second term would be a rerun of the first and our country just couldn't survive that."

The Hollywood legend then appears on camera to make a direct plea to voters: "There's not much time left and the future of our country is at stake."

The new ad comes after Eastwood famously took the stage in August at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, where he delivered a 12-minute scolding to an empty chair that was meant to represent President Obama.

"Mr. President, how do you handle promises that you made when you were running for election," Eastwood asked the empty chair. "I mean, what do you say to people?"

The speech went viral, inspiring a Twitter feed, and countless photos of people wagging their fingers at chairs. Even one of Romney's aides described it as "theater of the absurd."

“They vet most of the people, but I told them, ‘You can’t do that with me, because I don’t know what I’m going to say,’” Eastwood later explained. “It was supposed to be a contrast with all the scripted speeches, because I’m Joe Citizen. … I’m a movie maker, but I have the same feelings as the average guy out there.”

Former President Bill Clinton said President Barack Obama excelled Monday night at his final presidential debate meeting with Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

"I thought it was his best debate performance and I agree with the polls. I think he won," Clinton, in Chicago for the Mortgage Bankers Association Conference, said as he exited Gibson's restaurant in the Gold Coast neighborhood.

Monday's debate focused on foreign policy issues, and Clinton said Obama impressed him.

"You could see how hard he's worked in the last four years to to master that part of the job. You could just tell. And he did a really good job. He did a good job saying it was time to do nation building here at home and he did a good job explaining that you build the defense budget from the ground up based on the security threats the country faced," the 42nd president said as he made his way to an awaiting vehicle.