2. Florida goes for Obama as he wins four more years in the White House

GOP solace: Romney carries Volusia County after rallies in Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach

Dane Swanson, a Republican State Committeewoman from DeBary, holds a sign in suppott of Mitt Romney in January, the first of his two appearances in Volusia County during the election. He won the vote in Volusia County, but Obama won the state and the election.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Florida's 29 electoral votes went into the win column for President Obama, even if the win was by the thinnest of margins, reaffirmed four days later.

And Floridians were spared the embarrassment of the 2000 vote in Florida that eventually gave the 2000 election to Republican George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore, with the US Supreme Court affirming the controversial win. With that said, the Obama victory comes in at No. 2 in Headline Surfer's countdown of the Top 10 Florida stories of 2012.

Volusia County Republican Party leaders, however, found solace in their efforts to ensure that Romney carried the vote in Volusia County.

"While Obama won Florida and the presidency for four more years of socialist hell, Volusia voted for Romney," said Stan Escudero, then-chairman of the Republican Executive Committee of Volusia County, and the chief political blogger for Headline Surfer. "Volusians elected Republicans to federal, state, county and local offices in unheard of numbers. As a result, Volusia has the chance which our nation has denied itself to return to rational growth and prosperity."

"While Obama won Florida and the presidency for four more years of socialist hell, Volusia voted for Romney," said Stan Escudero, then-chairman of the Republican Executive Committee of Volusia County, and the chief political blogger for Headline Surfer. "Volusians elected Republicans to federal, state, county and local offices in unheard of numbers. As a result, Volusia has the chance which our nation has denied itself to return to rational growth and prosperity."

Mitt Romney twice visited Volusia County -- earlier in the year at a lumber yard in Ormond Beach and a second time with Biketoberfest at the Bandshell near the shores of the World's Most Famous Beach. 

Obama made several stops to Orlando, but none to Volusia. Instead, First Lady Michelle Obama made a case for him at the Ocean Center in the waning days of the campaign.

Headline Surfer photos by Henry Frederick / First Lady Michelle Obama takes to the podium Nov. 1 at the Ocean Center with an impassioned speech encouraging the 6,500 supporters to vote for her husband to keep the country moving forward.

Michelle Obama wowed 6,500 people in the Ocean Center with a passionate plea to get out and "vote for Barack."

Obama, who took to the stage in a flower-patterned purple dress, made her impassioned case for everyone to get out and vote so that her husband can move the country forward as hundreds in the first few rows on both sides of her as well as up front waved teal-colored "Forward" signs and chanted "four more years!"

"We've got a plan and it involves you," she said. "You're at the core of this plan." Obama added it might be too late to vote on election day, encouraging early voting, saying that's what she did. But President Obama needs another four years to keep the momentum going and get the economy turned around, she said.

"While he's proud of what we've achieved together, my husband is nowhere near satisfied," the first lady said. "Slowly, but surely we've been pulling ourselves out of that hole we started in."

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, greeted an overwhelmingly supportive crowd of 10,000 at the Daytona Beach Bandshell on Oct. 19,  during the heart of Biketoberfest.

Twelve days earlier, it was Romneyand Paul Ryan who held court to an even bigger partisan crowd -- 10,000 strong. Romney and Republican Party operatives couldn't have planned for a better venue -- right during the heart of the October motorcycle rally known as Biketoberfest with the top of the ticket on the edge of the hard sands of the World's Most Famous Beach.

This graphic snapshot from Wikipedia shows the voter breakdown by county across Florida.

Ryan, in introducing Romney, wasted no time in getting to the heart of the Republican ticket's agenda: "We have got to fix the mess in Washington," adding "We believe the government works for us and not the other way around... America is more than a nation with a flag."

And Romney emerged, his sleeves rolled up as emphasis of his message to get the country moving in the right direction, saying in part: "The president's put us on the course of decline," but quickly added, "We're gonna win in November. We'll be strong again."

To the right of the crowd was the surf drowned out by the sound of music and on the other side, the faint sound of Harleys and other motorcycles on Atlantic Avenue with the towering Ocean Walk complex providing a buffer. 

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi claps as Mitt Romney fires up the crowd at an Ormond Beach lumber yard on Jan. 22. 

Back in January Romney paid a visit to an Ormond Beach lumber yard, asking a raucous crowd 2,500 supporters with an opening question: "Are you ready to send Barack Obama home to Chicago?" The crowd roared with a yes.

"This is a decision point for this country," Romney said, adding Obama represents big government while he supports one that is small and simple.

"If I'm president of the United States, we'll get rid of Obamacare," Romney said, drawing an even bigger roar.