Where were you at 8:07 p.m. Tuesday night? If you were in front of a live newscast or Internet feed, you were one of the 59 million Americans who raised their fists in the air with a resounding "Yes!"
With 349 electoral votes to McCain's 163, Democratic candidate Barack Obama (D-Il) was declared the 44th president-elect of the United States of America in a landslide win. Obama won the popular vote with over 59 million votes as of 12:30 a.m., compared to McCain's 53 million.
The Illinois senator will become the first African-American to win the presidency.
"Change has come to America," Obama said during his acceptance speech in Chicago.
As soon as the polls closed on the West Coast, the news networks called the election. Obama took seven battleground states: Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado. Along with California, Oregon, Washington and New York, Obama received the required 270 electoral votes.
States that previously voted red voted blue this year: Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, Ohio, Virginia and Florida.
As of deadline, two states were still too close to call: Missouri and North Carolina.
Even if all of those states fall to McCain, victory still falls to Obama.
Republican candidate John McCain (R-Az) conceded the election early in the evening at roughly 8:15 p.m. PST, from his Phoenix rally.
"The American people have spoken and they have spoken clearly," McCain said.
"I wish godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president."
During his acceptance speech, Obama spoke of the importance of the youth vote.
"[My campaign] drew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy."
Social networking Web site Facebook.com was a testament to the young vote, with 5,447,875 members claiming they voted.
At the end of the night, Obama sent out one final text message to all of his supporters.
"All of this happened because you gave your time, talent and passion to this campaign," he said.
"All of this happened because of you."
Be the first to comment on this article!