Obama wins, first black president

By DAVID ESPO | AP Special Correspondent
Published: November 4, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama was elected the nation’s first black president Tuesday night in a historic triumph that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself.

The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, the Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his victory by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Iowa.

A huge crowd in Grant Park in Chicago erupted in jubilation at the news of Obama’s victory. Some wept. McCain called to concede defeat — and the end of his own 10-year quest for the White House.

Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, will take their oaths of office as president and vice president on Jan. 20, 2009. As the 44th president, Obama will move into the Oval Office as leader of a country that is almost certainly in recession, and fighting two long wars, one in Iraq, the other in Afghanistan.

The popular vote was close, but not the count in the Electoral College, where it mattered most. There, Obama’s audacious decision to contest McCain in states that hadn’t gone Democratic in years paid rich dividends.

Obama has said his first order of presidential business will be to tackle the economy. He has also pledged to withdraw most U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months.

Fellow Democrats rode his coattails to larger majorities in both houses of Congress. They defeated incumbent Republicans and won open seats by turn.

Barack Obama is the projected winner of the 2008 presidential election, being the nation’s first black president in a historic triumph that overcomes racial barriers as old as America itself.
The 47-year-old Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his victory by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hardfought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Iowa.

A huge crowd thronged Grant Park in Chicago to cheer his improbable triumph and await his first public speech as president-elect.

Obama won Virginia’s 13 electoral votes, the first Democrat since Lyndon Johnson in 1964 to carry Virginia in a night of resounding losses for Republicans.

Former Gov. Mark Warner routed his Republican predecessor, Jim Gilmore to give Democrats both of the state’s Senate seats.
Obama visited Virginia at least 11 times since June, outspent Republican John McCain by a 3-to-1 ratio and opened 50 campaign offices statewide to McCain’s 24.

It was the first time in generations candidates have contested the seat of the old Confederacy in a White House race.