Election 2012

Both the statewide issues failed. Issue 1 would have convened a constitutional convention, and state lawmakers were hoping it wouldn’t pass so they could continue with an appointed commission which will make recommendations on changes to the constitution. And Issue 2 would have taken the power to draw the maps for state and federal lawmakers out of legislators’ hands and put it with a 12-member citizens’ panel.

President Barack Obama won re-election to a second term last night. Ohioans elected Obama over Republican Mitt Romney by a two point margin.

Democrats who packed into the new Columbus Downtown Hilton ballroom were already giddy with excitement after U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown defeated Republican Challenger Josh Mandel.  But when they saw news that President Barack Obama had enough votes to be re-elected, a loud roar went up in the ballroom.

Ohio voters have rejected a proposal to change the process for redrawing state legislative and congressional maps.

Issue 2 lost after a fight that pitted voter advocacy groups and unions against business interests and the Ohio Republican Party. Lawyers' groups split on the issue.

The constitutional amendment would have created a 12-member citizen commission to redraw Ohio's political districts every decade. It was prompted by discontent over the maps approved by the state Legislature in 2011.

Democrat Sherrod Brown has won a new term in the U.S. Senate in Ohio after one of the most expensive and closely watched match-ups in the country.

Brown withstood an onslaught of attacks from conservative outside groups to top Republican challenger Josh Mandel -- the state treasurer and a veteran of the Iraq war. In his victory speech, Brown told supporters those groups thought the state could be bought but says they "just didn't know Ohio."