University of Virginia Center for Politics founder Larry Sabato has made his final call in the 2012 presidential election: Barack Obama.
“With a slight, unexpected lift provided by Hurricane Sandy, Mother Nature’s October surprise, President Barack Obama appears poised to win his second term tomorrow,” Sabato wrote in his final Crystal Ball of the 2012 election season.
Sabato and the Crystal Ball had held off from making a call on the election last week because the race was deemed too close to call. State polling numbers from the weekend have Obama ahead in several key swing states, and Sabato is projecting an Electoral Vote final tally of 290 for Obama and 248 for Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
Sabato is calling Virginia for Romney, in the face of recent polling that seems to have Obama ahead in the Old Dominion. The UVa. professor projects that Obama will win in Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio and Wisconsin.
The key turning point, to Sabato: Superstorm Sandy.
“Who could have imagined that a Frankenstorm would act as a circuit-breaker on the Republican’s campaign, blowing Romney off center stage for three critical days in the campaign’s last week, while enabling Obama to dominate as presidential comforter-in-chief, assisted by his new bipartisan best friend, Gov. Chris Christie?” Sabato wrote.