Obama (Officially) Wins! Electoral College Votes Tallied Before Congress
President Obama has officially won the election, with 332 electoral votes tallied in his column.
Of course this is old news. But the formal count mandated by the Constitution took place Friday in a joint session of Congress, heavy on ceremony and light on attendance.
Young Senate pages led the way into the chamber carrying two mahogany boxes holding the "certificates of vote" mailed in from around the country. Others carried three bronze baskets holding narrow blue boxes. It turns out these were the ceremonial letter openers — one for each state. The pages were followed in by Vice President Joe Biden and a group of senators.
Even with senators padding the numbers, the chamber was largely empty — only slightly more populated than your typical afternoon of made-for-C-SPAN speechifying.
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