MARIETTA — U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-Moultrie) and Johnny Isakson (R-east Cobb) were not in the highest of spirits when reached a little after 10 p.m. Tuesday.

“The country continues to be a very much divided America,” said Chambliss, who watched the returns from his hometown in Moultrie. “We’ve got to figure out a way to solve our problems that don’t move us down the road of a socialist America, that we figure out some way to make sure that true American values are still represented in the policies that come out of Washington, but with a President Obama, that’s going to be very, very difficult.”

Obama’s victory, Chambliss said, “shows that conservatives have got a lot of work to do. We still have a strong voice. We’re still going to have in excess of 40 members in the Senate, but we’ve got to figure out a way to move Hispanics and move all the minorities in the direction of Republican values.”

Chambliss attributed Obama’s victory to his ability to paint Romney as an elitist early in the race.

“Romney came out of a very tough primary, and Obama was able to sort of identify him … as a guy that didn’t care about middle America,” he said. “The longer the campaign went on, the more people realized that Mitt Romney is a very genuine person and he does care about America and cares about all Americans, but the Obama campaign did a very good job portraying him as something that he wasn’t, and he could never overcome that.”

Isakson is worried about the future of the country.

“I have said all along that I think four more years of the current policy of the current administration would be really difficult for my children and my grandchildren and for our country,” said Isakson, who spent the evening visiting various viewing parties in Cobb and Atlanta. “We have a real challenge to change the direction of our country in such a way that we don’t bankrupt our children’s future by too much borrowing, too much debt and too much spending,”

Both senators vowed to get to the bottom of the Benghazi attack.

“We’ve got a hearing Thursday of next week when we get back, and I will be spending the time between now and then preparing for that because we have some very tough questions that have got to be answered,” Chambliss said.

Kerwin Swint, a political science professor at Kennesaw State University who specializes in elections, weighed in at about quarter to 11 p.m., saying he assumed Obama would win.

“An Obama win means that a majority of Americans are comfortable with sluggish economic growth, high unemployment and higher taxes,” Swint said. “It also means that most Americans are not particularly concerned with the money spent in the stimulus program, the auto bailouts and Obamacare. This election means that a majority do not hold President Obama responsible for the tough times we are experiencing as a country. Evidently, most are not ready to give up on him. His performance has not been great, but it has been ‘good enough.’”

Swint said Obama’s approval rating of 49 percent is about where George W. Bush’s was in 2004 and is about 10 points higher than the approval ratings of previous incumbents who were defeated for re-election (Carter in 1980, Bush in 1992).

“The President will look at this as a major victory,” Swint said. “Republicans will have to regroup. In the short term, the President will have to negotiate an agreement with Congress over the financial future of the country. Look for both sides to search for areas of agreement to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff that the country could face in the next two years. John Boehner once again becomes the face of the national Republican Party and its highest-ranking elected official.”

State Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan (D-Austell), a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, was elated upon hearing CNN call the race for Obama.

“I am — I am — I don’t even know the words,” she said. “I am hopeful, I am elated, I am excited, I am just overjoyed.”

Morgan said Obama was able to beat Romney for several reasons.

“President Obama showed time and time again just the kind of leader that he is — a leader for all Americans,” Morgan said. “He showed that he’s a courageous, steady and inspiring leader, and I think that Americans trust his leadership. I think it was difficult for Americans to really see what kind of president Mitt Romney would have really been with his constant changing positions, and when you just match the record to the rhetoric, the choice is very clear.”

The Journal reached immigration reformer D.A. King of the Dustin Inman Society around 11 p.m.

“If the Alinskyite community organizer is indeed declared the winner, the pompous liberal media will have successfully ensured that an unqualified and failed president would fool about half the voters. Again,” King said. “The sound you may hear is Rev. Jeremiah Wright laughing in glee and the weeping of the Founders as the Republic they created is further attacked from inside the White House. At least the pretense will end: Obama can now bring the anti-American dreams of his father that he shares out in the open.”

Former Cobb GOP Chairman Scott Johnson flew up to suburban Cincinnati to knock on doors in Hamilton County on Monday.

Johnson watched the results at the Hamilton County GOP Victory Party at Toby Keith’s “I Love This Bar” in downtown Cincinnati.

“We are a deeply divided nation,” Johnson said. “We may well have reached the tipping point where those who receive government benefits will outnumber those who pay. When that happens and people can vote themselves largesse, that is the end of the Republic. We shall see.”