TUESDAY, November 6

POL-Elections-Main

The main election story, focusing on the race for president and the battle for power in the Senate and House. Focuses on the presidential race but wraps in elections for Congress, governors and key ballot measures. During the day, the focus will be turnout, any voter problems, quotes, color. (Will update throughout the night as polls close.)

POL-Obama-Sidebar

The final curtain isn't likely to fall on this presidential election until the wee hours of Wednesday morning, but President Barack Obama's moment to exit the stage came more than 24 hours earlier. With the imposing Iowa State Capitol looming over a soggy crowd that bore near-freezing temperatures in windswept Des Moines, Obama made his last major appearance of the 2012 campaign to urge the more than 20,000 supporters to maintain the enthusiasm that first catapulted him from a fresh-faced senator to presidential front-runner nearly five years ago. (Will update throughout the night as polls close.)

POL-Romney-Sidebar

Mitt Romney embarks upon a last-minute push for votes in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Two Election Day campaign stops, which were added to the schedule Monday afternoon, cap a campaign season of upheaval, unconventional moves and late-in-the-game surges that make Tuesday's outcome difficult to predict. (Will update throughout the night as polls close.)

POL-Senate-Races

Even before a second Republican Senate candidate tripped over incendiary comments about rape, GOP leaders in Washington knew that their once-promising chances of winning control of the Senate had diminished. (Will update throughout the night as polls close.)

POL-House-Preview

There may be little drama left in the outcome, but you wouldn't know that by watching the final days of campaigning in the battle for the U.S. House. Democratic and Republican congressional campaign committees and outside groups for both parties are ramping up spending and committing tens of millions of dollars to those races. (Will update throughout the night as polls close.)

POL-Gubernatorial-Races-2012

Washington gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna looks to help Republicans cross an important threshold while expanding their power at the top of state government nationally. McKenna is locked in a competitive race in a state that hasn't had a Republican governor in nearly 30 years. It's just one example of how the party is leveraging trends and strengthening its hand in a number of ways in state races across the country. If projections bear out and they grab four seats in addition to retaining the three they are defending, Republicans could hold the governorships of 30 states after Election Day, the most for them in nearly half a century. (Will update throughout the night as polls close.)

POL-Ballot-Initiatives

President Barack Obama's second term on the line in Tuesday's election, but so is a key component of his signature health care reform law. Four states are voting on whether to allow residents and businesses to avoid Obamacare's requirement that they purchase health insurance for themselves or their employees. The ballot initiatives in Alabama, Florida and Wyoming would amend state constitutions. Montana's initiative prohibits federal and state government from requiring people to purchase health insurance through imposing a penalty, tax, fee or fine on those who do not do so. (Will update throughout the night as polls close.)

POL-Election-Voting

Long lines and sporadic problems with voting machines caused snags in some key states during Tuesday's closely watched U.S. election.

US-Sandy-New-York-Voting

Long, slow-moving lines stretched around polling stations across New York City a week after Superstorm Sandy's fury threatened to keep many citizens from voting. While inspiring to some, the long wait to cast a ballot was frustrating for others. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's last-minute decree that any voter could vote at any precinct, intended to help those displaced by Sandy, made it "a little insane right now" at the polling station at Public School 41 in Greenwich Village, a poll coordinator there told CNN Tuesday afternoon.

POL-New-Hampshire-Dixville-Vote

The first presidential election results are in -- and it's a tie. President Barack Obama and his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, each received five votes in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire. The town in the state's northeast corner has opened its polls shortly after midnight each election day since 1960 -- but today's tie was the first in its history.

POL-Biden-Future-Ballots

Vice President Joe Biden further fanned the flames of speculation Tuesday over a possible 2016 presidential bid. While he was leaving a Delaware polling booth, Biden was asked whether it was the last time he'd cast a ballot for himself. "No, I don't think so," he replied, smiling.

POL-21-things-look-back

Remember Clint Eastwood's empty chair? Romney's Etch A Sketch moment? Obama's disastrous first debate? The 2012 presidential race has been filled with stomach-clenching gaffes, dumb tactical goofs, nail-biting close calls and, of course, Big Bird. But, along the way, it has also given American voters insight into the personalities and priorities of the men who would be president.