Barack Obama has accepted the US presidency in a rousing speech which called for unity and praised the gracious concession of John McCain.
"It's been a long time coming. But tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America," he said in front of a crowd of 65,000 people in his home city of Chicago.
"All of those watching tonight from beyond our shores, in the parliament and in the palaces, those huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular but our destiny is shared.
"A new dawn of American leadership is at hand," he said to applause.
"To those who would tear the world down, we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security, we support you.
"We have proved that the true strength of our nation comes not from the scale of our wealth but from the power of our ideals — opportunity, democracy, liberty and hope."
He paid tribute to his campaign team, his wife, children and recently deceased grandmother.
"Along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure," he said.
He added: "I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements.
"Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms and the front porches of Charleston."
News of Obama's victory was greeted with euphoria by this vast crowd gathered in Chicago. His supporters screamed, waved American flags as they waited for him to arrive to deliver his victory speech.
(Watch as Time Square celebrates the result)
His presidency marks a stunning social shift, with Obama, the son of Kenyan father and white mother from Kansas, the first African American president of a nation still riven by racial divides.
Forty-five years after civil rights icon Martin Luther King laid out his "dream" of racial equality, Obama's election broke new barriers and may have helped heal the moral wounds left by slavery and the US civil war.
McCain concedes, Democrats in Oz overjoyed
After the US media called the election for Obama, McCain conceded defeat in front of a large crowd of devastated supporters in Phoenix, Arizona. (Watch McCain's speech)
"The American people have spoken and they have spoken clearly," he said.
"I recognise the special significance it has for African Americans. We both recognise that we have come a long way from the old injustices that stained our reputation. "
"America today is a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time."
"Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on earth," he said. (Read more)
In Melbourne, the more than 150 Americans packed into the Maori Chief pub jumped into the air and began chanting "Yes We Can" as a live CNN feed declared Obama the winner.
"He will be a fantastic president. He will restore our standing to the world," said Cassidy Knowlton.
"This is absolutely unbelievable," an emotional Max Schlosshauer, 31, said.
"It's been eight years of waiting with all this expectation. I was trying to be cautious [earlier] … This is just amazing."
Economy the key
Obama strode towards victory by capturing the key states of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida — states McCain needed to win to keep his long-shot hopes of victory alive.
In a sweet moment for Democrats, Obama also seized New Mexico and Iowa, two states won by Bush in 2004 to close out McCain's possible route towards the White House.
In a campaign dominated at the end by a flood of bad news on the economy, Obama's judgment on handling the crisis tipped the race in his favour. Exit polls showed six of every 10 voters listed the economy as the top issue.
He was on the way to winning more than 300 Electoral College votes, far more than the 270 needed. With nearly two-thirds of US precincts reporting, he led McCain by 51 percent to 48 percent in the popular vote.
Democrats gained at least five Senate seats and knocked off two-high profile Republican incumbents — North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole, a former presidential candidate and wife of 1996 Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole, and New Hampshire Senator John Sununu.
Democrats also gained about 25 more House of Representatives seats to give them a commanding majority in that chamber.
Americans vote, then watch and wait
This morning, as Obama closed in on the presidency, Americans from Democrats Abroad gathered at the Maori Chief.
Bronx cheers rang through the pub as CNN projected he would sweep battleground states including Ohio and Pennsylvania.
"I'm just here enjoying watching Obama kick butt," said Virginia-born Ian Morgan.
"I took the day off work — maybe I should've taken tomorrow off instead."
In the US, long queues snaked outside polling places all day as voters braved hours-long waits, rain, or shivering cold amid unanimous predictions of record turnout at the climax of the longest and costliest White House race in history. (Read more)
CNN reported that exit polls showed that the economy was the top priority, being named by 62 percent of voters, compared to Iraq with 10 percent, terrorism on nine percent and healthcare on nine percent.
Obama made a short election day trip to the midwestern swing state of Indiana, after casting his vote alongside wife Michelle with daughters Sasha and Malia close by. (Watch Obama vote)
"I feel great and it was fun, I had a chance to vote with my daughters," he said.
"I noticed that Michelle took a long time though. I had to check to see who she was voting for," the Hawaiian-born US senator from Illinois, 47, said with a laugh.
Obama later showed up with some friends at a Chicago gym for his traditional election day game of pickup basketball.
McCain kept silent as he voted in his home state of Arizona, but later led a boisterous rally in Grand Junction, Colorado, promising supporters: "We're going to win it." (Watch McCain vote)
Source : http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=660361
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