President Obama and Mitt Romney. Photo: Screenshot.

The following are my final projections in the 2012 presidential race:

SAFE OR LIKELY OBAMA:  237 Electoral Votes:

California (55), Connecticut (7), Delaware (3), District of Columbia (3), Hawaii (4) , Illinois (20), Maine(4), Maryland (10) , Massachusetts (11), Michigan (16), Minnesota (10), New York (29), New Jersey (14), New Mexico (5), Oregon (7), Pennsylvania (20), Rhode Island (4), Vermont (3), Washington (12)

SWING STATES FOR OBAMA: 30 Electoral Votes

Iowa (6), Nevada (6), Ohio (18)

SAFE OR LIKELY ROMNEY:  191 Electoral Votes

Alabama (9), Alaska (3), Arkansas (6), Arizona (11), Georgia (16), Idaho (4), Indiana (11), Kansas (6), Kentucky (8), Louisiana (8), Mississippi (6), Missouri (10), Montana (3), Nebraska (5),  North Dakota (3), Oklahoma (7), South Carolina (9), South Dakota (3), Tennessee (11), Texas (38), Utah (6), West Virginia (5), Wyoming (3)

SWING  STATES  FOR ROMNEY:  80  Electoral Votes:

Colorado (9), Florida (29), New Hampshire (4), North Carolina (15), Virginia (13), Wisconsin (10)

TOTAL OBAMA:  267 Electoral Votes

TOTAL ROMNEY:  271 Electoral Votes

NEEDED TO WIN: 270 Electoral Votes

Mitt Romney will be elected 45th President of the United States.  He will win without Ohio because of his victories in the six swing states I have projected for him.  It will be a very narrow margin, and Romney will lose the election if he loses any of these six swing states.  I believe, however, that sometime around 2:00 o’clock am, Wednesday, November 7, 2012, the networks will confirm that Mitt has won all the aforesaid states projected for him.  The next sound you will hear is the network anchors referring to him as President-elect Mitt Romney.

Alan J. Steinberg served as Regional Administrator of Region 2 EPA during the administration of former President George W. Bush. Region 2 EPA consists of the states of New York and New Jersey, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and eight federally recognized Indian nations. Under former New Jersey Governor Christie Whitman, he served as Executive Director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. He currently serves on the political science faculty of Monmouth University.