Updated at 4:02 a.m. ET: President Barack Obama won four more years in office on Tuesday, describing his victory over Republican nominee Mitt Romney as a call to action that would help move the U.S. past the difficult times endured during the past four years and promising "the best is yet to come." 

Propelled by wins in Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa – states long touted as Obama’s “firewall” insulating him from his GOP challenger – the president won a long-fought election in which the economy, its slow pace of recovery and Obama’s management of it, became the central issue. 

Emerging early in the hours on Wednesday in Chicago to the tune of Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours” the president struck an upbeat note about the challenges that lie ahead during a second term, with which he’ll have to reckon almost immediately in the next few weeks. 

“A decade of war is ending. A long campaign is now over. And whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you, I have learned from you, and you have made me a better president,” Obama said. “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 the future that lies ahead.” 

But there were strong indications that the first two years of Obama’s second term would resemble the final two years of his first term – that is with a Republican-held House and nominally Democratic Senate stalemated over major tax and spending issues, as the balance of power in Congress remained unchanged after Election Day. 

The specter of gridlock appeared quickly as Obama prepared to confront the immediate task in addressing the series of automatic tax hikes and spending cuts – the so-called “fiscal cliff” – set to spring into place at the end of this year. 

Now that he's won, the six splitting headaches waiting for Obama

As Obama won a second term, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Republicans’ retention of their House majority meant “the American people have also made clear that there is NO mandate for raising tax rates.” And Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was even tougher in his statement, saying, “The voters have not endorsed the failures or excesses of the president’s first term, they have simply given him more time to finish the job they asked him to do together with a Congress that restored balance to Washington after two years of one-party control.”  

Obama nodded to the challenges that lay ahead in his Tuesday evening speech, hinting that he wishes to meet with Romney – as the president had done with Arizona Sen. John McCain after the 2008 election – to seek his help in moving past some of the most intractable problems to beguile Washington. 

“Tonight, despite all the hardship that we’ve been through, despite all the frustrations of Washington, I have never been more hopeful about our future,” Obama told a boisterous crowd in his adoptive hometown of Chicago. 

In addition to the looming fiscal cliff, Obama will also have to confront a reshuffling of his cabinet. Both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner have suggested that they might depart the administration after Obama’s first term, setting up a major remaking of Obama’s inner circle. 

Slideshow: Election 2012

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

Campaigning with Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, voting and election results.

Launch slideshow

After months of campaigning that saw ad spending alone reach the $1 billion mark, Obama won a second term with much of his 2008 electoral map intact. Romney managed to flip only North Carolina and Indiana, which Obama won four years ago, back to Republicans in 2012; the GOP nominee failed to put into play more traditionally Democratic states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, on which his campaign concentrated its efforts in the closing weeks of the campaign. 

The Midwestern troika of Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin helped insulate the Obama campaign from Romney and preserve Democratic inroads in other states, like Colorado and Virginia. 

'We have given our all'
After having claimed momentum in the final days of the campaign, the erstwhile GOP nominee emerged in Boston shortly after 1 a.m. ET to offer his concession, a conciliatory speech capping a bid for the presidency for Romney that has spanned the better part of a decade. 

"This is a time for great challenges for America, and I pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation," the former Republican nominee said, joined by his running mate, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan (who won re-election to Congress) and their families. 

"Like so many of you, Paul and I have left everything on the field. We have given our all to this campaign," Romney said. "I so wish that I had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead this country in a different direction, but the nation chose another leader." 

While Romney had campaigned on his own private sector expertise amid a weak economic recovery, improvements in hiring and confidence in the economy allowed Obama to parry his opponent’s criticism. 

Exit polls suggested that the economy was, by far and away, the issue at the front of voters’ minds on Election Day. Romney edged Obama nationally by six points among voters who said the economy was their top issue.  

Obama outperformed Romney on questions of empathy, and voters nationwide were virtually tied on the more direct question of who would better handle the economy and the budget deficit. 

Obama also held a demographic edge over Romney among two key groups of voters. The president bested the former Massachusetts governor by 10 points among women (Romney beat Obama by 8 percent among men). Hispanic or Latino voters also broke heavily for Obama by a 39-point margin. 

But despite lingering divisions, the president emphasized points of unity, Wednesday morning, saying the nation “moves forward because you reaffirmed the spirit that has triumphed over war and depression, the spirit that has lifted this country from the depths of despair to the great heights of hope, the belief that while each of us will pursue our own individual dreams, we are an American family, and we rise or fall together as one nation and as one people.”

More election coverage from NBCNews.com:

• Victorious Obama 'more determined' in face of challenges
• Democrats retain control of Senate with series of hard-fought wins
• Rape remarks sink two Republican Senate hopefuls
• Now that he's won, the six splitting headaches waiting for Obama
• In costliest-ever Senate race, Warren beats Brown for Mass. seat
• Maine's Harley-riding King vowed to 'shake up' D.C.
• Republicans easily maintain control of House
• Colorado, Washington approve recreational marijuana use
• Wisconsin's Baldwin becomes 1st openly gay senator
• Pence in as governor of Indiana; Hassan wins in N.H.
• Majority of voters see American on wrong track

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After over a year of campaigning and debating, and $984 million invested in presidential campaign advertising, Americans went to polling places across the nation Tuesday to render their verdict on President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Showing the intensity of the race, which polls show as extremely close, Romney and his running mate Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin made last-minute Election Day appearances in two of the most hotly contested battlegrounds: Ohio and Pennsylvania. Ryan arrived midafternoon in Richmond, Va., for his last 2012 campaign appearance.

Romney told supporters at a call center outside Pittsburgh that they "don't need to be disparaging of the other guy. The president has run a strong campaign, I believe he is a good man and wish him well, and his family well. He is a good father and has been a good example of a good father, but it is time for a new direction. It is a time for a better tomorrow."

Vice President Joe Biden also touched down in Cleveland to make an Election Day visit and to thank campaign volunteers. At one point, the Romney, Ryan and Biden planes were all simultaneously parked on the tarmac in Cleveland – a final symbolic expression of the importance of the state’s 18 electoral votes in the race to get to 270.

Aboard Romney’s chartered plane, his chief strategist Stuart Stevens reacted to Biden’s Ohio stop by musing about Democrats who claimed the GOP ticket was displaying "panic” by campaigning today.

Early Tuesday morning, the Obama campaign sent out a text message urging supporters to pick up the phone to woo another voter for the president: “Will you make one call for President Obama? Reply CALL and we'll send you the name & phone number of one voter in a key state who needs to hear from you.”

At their stop at a Wendy’s in Cleveland, Romney ordered a quarter-pounder with no cheese along with chili and a baked potato, while Ryan replied to a reporter’s question about how he felt by saying: "I'm running on fumes."

Obama took time out from the frenzied last-minute campaigning and vote forecasting to play a pickup basketball game with friends and staffers at a court in Chicago.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) and his running mate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) smile while greeting workers at a GOP Victory Center in Richmond Heights, Ohio, on November 6.

The president was also scheduled to do interviews with radio stations in media markets in most of the battleground states: in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Milwaukee, Wis.; Denver, Colo.; Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio; Las Vegas, Nev.; Miami and Tampa, Fla., and – reaching voters in the vital northern Virginia suburbs, a station in Washington, D.C. In 2008, Obama carried all seven of the states in which his radio interviews were airing on Tuesday.

Romney also turned to Election Day radio interviews to make one last appeal to voters, with appearances on stations in Ohio, Washington, D.C. and Richmond, Va.

In a morning drive-time interview with Jimmy Barrett on WRVA in Richmond, Romney said, “We’re bouncing around a bit – just going to polls and saying ‘hi’ to people and making sure we leave nothing in the locker room. We’re putting it all out there on the field.”

He added, “I can’t imagine an election being won or lost by let’s say a few hundred votes, and you spent your day sitting around. I mean, you’d say to yourself, ‘Holy Cow, why didn’t I keep working?”

Whether voter turnout  -- especially Democratic turnout -- matches that of 2008, when Obama was swept into the White House with a popular vote plurality of more than 9.5 million votes, will be crucial to Tuesday’s outcome

In Ohio, Secretary of State Jon Husted reported that nearly 1.8 million absentee ballots had been cast, surpassing the 2008 presidential election figure.

And in Florida Tuesday morning, Secretary of State Ken Detzner predicted a record turnout, saying as many as 9 million people overall could vote in his state. Nearly 8.4 million people voted in Florida in 2008.

Detzner said he was not concerned that the long lines during the eight-day early vote period would dampen enthusiasm Tuesday.

In another key state, Colorado, as of Monday night, more than 1.7 million voters had cast early ballots. In 2008, 2.4 million voted in the state.

At stake Tuesday was not only the presidency but control of the Senate and the House of Representatives. If Romney wins and Republicans can score a net gain of only three seats in the Senate they would become the majority party and control the agenda. If Obama wins the Republicans would need a net gain of four seats to win the Senate. The GOP is expected to retain control of the House.

NBC News’s Carrie Dann, Garrett Haake, and James Novogrod contributed to this story.

In Mississippi, he declared his growing love for “cheesy grits,” and the undeniable utility of the contraction “y'all.” In Michigan, he famously observed that the trees were “the right height.” And in state after state on his nearly two year quest for the White House, Mitt Romney told audience after audience how lucky they were “to live in a place like this.”

In a late October rally at Colorado’s stunning Red Rocks amphitheater, Romney reflected aloud on the beauty of the scene.

“This is a magnificent place for a guy born in Detroit to come here and look at these extraordinary mountains -- you look at the handiwork of our creator, and it’s just, it’s just overwhelming,” Romney said.

Tonight, Romney’s journey will end -- in one way or another. And with it will also end the education of a candidate, of his staff and of a press corps about a theme Romney so often strikes on the campaign trail: the greatness of America.

“When I was a boy, my parents took me around to the national parks, including the Grand Canyon, to see the beauty of America,” Romney told a crowd of supporters in Arizona in February. “I fell in love with the land. Over the years, I’ve fallen in love with the people.”

Romney’s closing argument, too, is wrapped and layered in patriotism, including an appeal to supporters to vote today “for love of country.”

And while reporters may not have joined Romney’s warbling rendition of “America the Beautiful” on a January night in Florida, many of us, too, are having a similarly revealing experience as we crisscross America.

In my own 16 months of following the Romney campaign, I’ve filed stories from 36 states; a stage in Puerto Rico overlooking the Caribbean Sea; and from three foreign countries. I’ve swam in the Pacific Ocean near La Jolla, skied in the mountains of Utah, and floated on a pontoon boat in New Hampshire’s Lake Winnepesaukee.

Some memories stay with you more than others.

On his final night in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Romney attended a political rally disguised as a rave. For three hours, politicians took the stage and chanted, shouted, and exhorted an audience of sign-waving supporters.

To do what? I have no idea. Almost every word of it was in Spanish, and the Romney press corps, on a stage that looked out over the scene and the sea, sat mostly bemused until Romney took the stage.

"Politics in Puerto Rico is spoken with energy and passion,” Romney said. “Thank you."

Ann Romney might have said it better: "You show us how to party," she laughed into the microphone.

On the final stop of his “Every Town Counts” bus tour in Holland, Mich., Romney rallied a crowd of supporters along the shores of Lake Michigan, diverting into tangents often to sing the praises of his home state as the sun set into the waves. As he finished his remarks he took his wife Ann by the hand and the two walked down to touch the lake.

After three days on busses, in filing centers and often cheap hotels, I kicked off my shoes and let my toes feel the sand as I shot video of the couple. At the water’s edge I rolled up my jeans and waded in to my ankles.

In New Hampshire on the Fourth of July, the sense of patriotism was inescapable as Romney, tailed by classic cars, and flanked by family members, walked down Main Street in Wolfeboro, shaking hands and wiping away sweat as he greeted cheering crowds.

I was the pool reporter for the television networks on that day, and as the parade neared its conclusion, I leapt down from the flatbed truck that had hauled our crew through town in time to see Romney approach a lemonade stand and guzzle a glass. Somehow standing feet apart, all I could think to ask him in that moment was how he enjoyed the drink?

“Lemon. Wet. Good.” Romney grunted back before plunging into the flag-waving crowd to shake more hands.

On Twitter, the moment became something of a running joke, but on the street that day it was a classic snapshot of a pure campaign moment -- a man who rarely seems to truly enjoy the act of campaigning, invigorated by the heat of the day, and the passion of those lining the streets, if not directed entirely towards him, than at least towards the country that Romney genuinely loves.

One reporter on the Romney press corps called this experience “the most patriotic year of our lives.” We stand for the Pledge of Allegiance three or four times daily, and have listened to some of the most moving renditions of the Star Spangled Banner that I have ever heard, including one sung by a girl in Ohio who couldn’t have been older than 10 that has stuck with me for months.

(However, I won’t speak of Meatloaf’s troubling rendition of God Bless America.) 

On Monday, Romney himself made the call to extend his tour of America by one more day, adding two last minute stops in battleground states -- rather than sitting at home in Boston to await election results.

Tuesday morning, Romney called into a radio station in Virginia to explain his decision.

“I can’t imagine an election being won or lost by, let’s say, a few hundred votes and you spent your day sitting around,” Romney said. “You’d say to yourself: Holy cow, why didn’t I keep working? So I’m going to make sure I never have to look back with anything other than the greatest degree of satisfaction in this whole campaign.”

And why not fly back out into the heart of the country again to seek that satisfaction?

This is America, the greatest country on earth.

Garrett Haake has been the embed reporter covering Romney's campaign over the past year and half for NBC News.

It’s Decision Day… How to watch tonight, especially the states with early closing times… What’s at stake in this election… The state of play… The final ad spending… The first results -- Dixville Notch, NH: Obama 5, Romney 5… Hart’s Landing, NH: Obama 23, Romney 9… And Obama holds his Election Night festivities in Chicago, while Romney holds his in Boston.

*** Decision Day: After nearly $1 billion spent on TV ads, a wild GOP primary season, 20 primary debates and four general-election ones, endless campaign stops to the battleground states, and a hurricane on the final full week, the 2012 presidential election comes to an end today. Or at least we think it will. And tonight will help answer so many of the questions we’ve posed over the past two years: Can an incumbent president win when the unemployment rate is just below 8%? Or is an incumbent who doesn’t face a primary challenge tough to beat? Did Mitt Romney’s opposition to the auto bailout prove fatal to his chances, especially in Ohio? Or was his overall economic messaging successful? Did the Super PACs -- including the $53 million Sheldon Adelson donated -- move the needle? What segment of the electorate proved more decisive, white voters or Latinos? Was there a significant gender gap? Were the polls right? And given that both candidates have thrived when their backs have been against the wall, which man will ultimately prevail? We’ll find out tonight. 

*** How to watch tonight: With several battleground states having poll-closing times at 8:00 pm ET or earlier (Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania), we’re going to know a lot about how the race is breaking fairly early in the evening. How long does it take to call North Carolina (a state Romney probably wants to put away early) and Pennsylvania (ditto Obama)? Will Florida and Virginia take hours to call? (Remember, no state better matched the 2008 popular than Virginia did four years ago.) Here are all the final poll closing times in ET (NBC News will not call a race until all polls have closed in that state):

7:00 pm: GA, IN, KY, SC, VT, VA
7:30 pm: NC, OH, WV
8:00 pm: AL, CT, DE, DC, FL, IL, ME, MD, MA, MS, MO, NH, NJ, OK, PA, RI, TN
8:30 pm: AR
9:00 pm: AZ, CO, KS, LA, MI, MN, NE, NM, NY, ND, SD, TX, WI, WY
10:00 pm: IA, MT, NV, UT
11:00 pm: CA, HI, ID, OR, WA
1:00 am: AK

*** What’s at stake: This year’s elections might not have the same huge rallies of four years ago. Or the unbridled energy and enthusiasm. Or even Sarah Palin. But it could very well be a more consequential election -- with so much at stake. The winner of the presidential contest between Obama and Romney could determine the fate of the Bush tax cuts. The outcome also could decide the future of entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid. And the race could impact the implementation of the 2010 federal health-care law. What’s more, the winner could potentially fill as many as two or three Supreme Court vacancies -- with Ruth Bader Ginsburg at age 79, Anthony Kennedy and Antonin Scalia at 76, and Stephen Breyer at 74 -- which could change the court’s political composition for decades. Furthermore, whichever party wins the presidential contest will likely hold the upper hand in the “fiscal cliff” negotiations, which will begin immediately after the ballots are counted. And speaking of that last point, it raised our eyebrows that House Speaker John Boehner’s office last night released this quote from Boehner in a Politico piece: “We’re not raising taxes on small-business people,” he said. “Ernst and Young has made this clear: It’s going to cost our economy 700,000 jobs. Why in the world would we want to do that?” Would Boehner’s office have released this hours before the end of the campaign if it was confident Romney was going to win? Remember what state Boehner is from: Ohio.

/

*** State of play: The presidential contest is a race to 270 electoral votes. Throughout the race, Obama has enjoyed more paths to 270 than Romney. A note: If there is a 269-269 tie, which has never happened before, the new House of Representatives would determine the presidential election’s outcome, while the U.S. Senate would elect the vice president. In the battle for control of the U.S. Senate, Democrats (and the independents who caucus with them) hold a 53-47 majority in the chamber. To win back control, Republicans must net four seats if Obama wins re-election or three seats if he doesn’t. The reason: The vice president gets to break a 50-50 tie. And in the House, Republicans hold a 240-190 majority in the chamber (with five vacancies). This means Democrats must pick up a net of 25 seats to win back control -- a doable but unlikely feat due in part to redistricting.

*** The final ad spending in the presidential contest:
Overall ad spending: $984 million
Team Romney (includes outside groups): $583 million
Team Obama (includes outside groups): $401 million

Total ad spending by the campaigns: $549 million
Obama campaign: $336 million
Romney campaign: $213 million

Total outside ad spending: $435 million (44% of total)
Outside spending supporting Obama: $65 million
Outside spending supporting Romney: $370 million

Per state: Ohio  $197 million, Florida $192 million, Virginia $152 million, Colorado   $81 million, Iowa $74 million, North Carolina $70 million, Nevada $60 million, Wisconsin $45 million, New Hampshire $44 million, Pennsylvania $35 million, Michigan $19 million, Minnesota $11 million, New Mexico $3 million, Maine $400,000

*** The first results: And we have already received our first election results from New Hampshire: In Dixville Notch, Obama and Romney both received five votes, and in Hart’s Landing, the president won 23 votes, Romney nine, and Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson 1.

*** On the trail: Obama spends his Election Day in Chicago, where he conducts a dozen satellite interviews in battleground states and where he holds his Election Night event in McCormick Place… Romney casts his vote in Belmont, MA at 8:35 am ET before heading to Cleveland at 11:40 am ET and Pittsburgh at 2:55 pm ET, and he holds his evening event in Boston… Biden already voted in Delaware… And Ryan votes in Wisconsin before visiting Cleveland and Richmond, VA.

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NBC’s Garrett Haake on Romney’s final rally in Manchester, NH: “On a day full of ‘lasts’ for Mitt Romney -- his last campaign event in Florida, and last rallies in Virginia have come and gone -- it was his last rally here in New Hampshire that seemed to move the Republican nominee most, as 12,000 supporters filled an arena to cheer on the man who's presidential run they launched more than 16 months ago. Returning to New Hampshire, where Romney began his presidential campaign last June, and where in January Republican voters handed him a resounding victory in the first in the nation primaries, Romney sounded wistful as he thanked Granite State voters for their support, and asked for their help on Election Day.

“‘You know this is a special moment for Ann and for me because this is where our campaign began,’ Romney said after nearly three minutes of applause died down enough for him to speak. ‘And tomorrow your votes and your work right here in New Hampshire will help me become the next president of the United States!’” 

FAIRFAX, VA -- Mitt Romney barnstormed the Old Dominion on this final full day of campaigning, cramming two stops, separated by hundreds of miles, in this hotly-contested swing state over the course of just a few hours.

Here on the campus of George Mason University, Romney was greeted by his best crowd of the day for a boisterous rally that seemed to overwhelm the GOP nominee, prompting him to joke that the attendees must have been expecting someone else to take the stage.

"That is really something special. I am looking around to see if we have the Beatles here or something to have brought you but it looks like you came just for the campaign and I appreciate it," Romney said to 8,000 supporters here. "Your voices and your energy and your passion are being heard all over the nation."

Romney's rally here was a rare foray into Fairfax County, which broke heavily Democratic in 2008 and where he must cut into President Barack Obama's margins to carry the state.

Charles Dharapak / AP

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and his wife Ann Romney wave to the crowd at a Virginia campaign rally at The Patriot Center at George Mason University, in Fairfax, Va., Monday, Nov. 5, 2012.

Romney touched down in Lynchburg, Virginia earlier in the afternoon for a lunchtime rally on the tarmac before a smaller crowd of a few thousand supporters. This was safer territory for the Republican nominee, since Arizona Sen. John McCain carried all of the surrounding counties in 2008 and are expected to remain in the GOP column this fall.

To carry Virginia on Tuesday, Republicans will likely need to run up wide margins in these central and western counties, and Romney opened his remarks in Lynchburg by thanking the volunteers in crowd, and urging them to do yet more in the race's final hours.

"Your voices are being heard all over the nation loud and clear, thank you. I also want to thank many of you in this crowd that have been out there working on the campaign. Making calls from the victory centers, and by putting up a yard sign, in your neighbor's yard," Romney joked.

"This is a campaign about America and about the future we’re going to leave to our children. And we ask that you stay at this all the way until victory on Tuesday night," he continued.

Romney did add a tinge of conservatism to his usual "closing argument" speech, blaming Obama for being overattentive to a "liberal agenda" at the expense of minding the economy. Romney also warned of the specter of "card check," a union organizing reform law detested by conservatives.

Updated 4:08 p.m. ET - STERLING, VA -- Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's campaign announced Monday afternoon that the candidate would add two campaign stops on Election Day in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

A campaign official said Romney would make stops in Cleveland and Pittsburgh, part of what the GOP nominee's campaign called an effort to "keep working until the polls close."

Romney campaign advisers have eyed Pennsylvania in recent weeks as a backstop against losing other battleground states, especially as Obama has managed to maintain a mostly consistent if slight advantage over Romney in Ohio. Pennsylvania lacks a robust early voting effort and the vast majority of ballots are cast on election day. Romney's campaign and outside groups supporting it have poured money into television advertising there in recent weeks.

Pittsburgh has advantage of bleeding over into the Ohio media markets, too.

David Goldman / AP

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney waves to supporters after finishing his speech at a campaign event at the Lynchburg Regional Airport, Monday, Nov. 5, 2012.

In Cleveland, Romney will visit his campaign's victory office, according to a Republican operative familiar with the campaign's plans.

Romney will travel to the two Midwestern battlegrounds after voting in Belmont, Massachusetts on Tuesday morning.

On Monday, Romney barnstormed across four swing states, with rallies in Florida, Virginia, Ohio and New Hampshire. The New Hampshire midnight rally in in Manchester had been billed as the campaign's finale.

Jen Psaki, the traveling campaign spokeswoman for President Barack Obama, suggested the stop was a sign of weakness.

Slideshow: Election 2012

Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

Campaigning with Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, voting and election results.

Launch slideshow

"I will say it's no surprise that Mitt Romney is headed to Ohio, or reportedly headed to Ohio tomorrow," she told reporters in a gaggle aboard Air Force One. "Without that state it's a rocky road to victory -- an insurmountable road I would say."

Romney campaign advisers say the candidate himself decided on Monday to add the last minute stops, preferring to motivate volunteers and supporters by showing them that he was working just as hard as they are in the final hours, to sitting at home and waiting for results to come in.