2012 History News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Unlike last election, 2012 could be more brutal in some states and very close in other. today nbc's political unit pointing to 11 states as toss-ups right now. which way they will go? fuf tough sow say now. colorado, florida, iowa, michigan, nevada, new mexico, north carolina, ohio and pennsylvania as well as wisconsin. now, they represent 147 electoral votes, and both sides need a big chnk of this to win in 2012. history may help us understand the future. in 2008 they all went obama. all of these states, with some really close votes, as you can see here. these are the popular vote totals from...

state of illinois. he's been talking to people about the fight for america's future, even as he steps up his own fight for reelection. >> when i travel through down state illinois, iowa, the midwest, i am absolutely confident about this country. and the reason is because of you. the reason is because of the american people. because as tough of a time as we've had there's not a country on earth that would not ready change places with us right now. >> the president told me just yesterday in iowa he knows voters will hold him accountable for the constituent of economy, so he's getting r...

Secondly, it's a permanent campaign because it's so expensive. >> the president told abc's diane sawyer a politician's job is not to get re-elected. it's to serve the country. >> i would rather be a really good one-term president, than mediocre two-term president. >> reporter: but the trend is toward earlier campaign starts. president bill clinton announced his election in the spring after the midterm election, former president bush did the same, but informal planning for both likely began earlier. one democrat on capitol hill called the report of 102012 planning disconcerting saying, "we have...

Secondly, it's a permanent campaign because it's so expensive. >> the president told abc's diane sawyer a politician's job is not to get re-elected. it's to serve the country. >> i would rather be a really good one-term president, than mediocre two-term president. >> reporter: but the trend is toward earlier campaign starts. president bill clinton announced his election in the spring after the midterm election, former president bush did the same, but informal planning for both likely began earlier. one democrat on capitol hill called the report of 102012 planning disconcerting saying, "we have...