Barack Obama creates history, elected first Black President of US
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Barack Obama created history on Tuesday when he became the first black man to be elected president of the United States of America.
The Democratic candidate went past the magic figure of 270 electoral college votes when US television networks reported that he was on course to win the elections in California, which has 55 votes, and Washington state, which has 11. That took Obama's tally to 273.
Wild cheering broke out in Chicago, where the Illinois senator lives and where a huge crowd had gathered as the evening wore on, when the networks called California and Washington for Obama at 11pm Eastern Standard Time.
Fifteen minutes later Republican candidate John McCain appeared in public in Phoenix, Arizona, to concede defeat and congratulate Obama on his victory.
The Associated Press also called Obama the winner in Florida, Washington, and Oregon, and CNN and NBC said he had won Hawaii. That brought his total to at least 324 votes. The tally was set to grow as results came in from states that had backed George W Bush in 2004 and are expected to switch sides.
Obama's victory in Florida gave him all 27 electoral votes from the fourth most populous state in the US. While Florida voted Republican in eight of the 10 previous presidential elections, most opinion polls since late September had given Obama an edge.
Florida, along with Pennsylvania and Ohio, has played a critical role in presidential elections for nearly 50 years. No candidate since 1960 has won the presidency without capturing two of the three. Obama captured all three.
McCain said he called his rival "to congratulate him on being elected the next president".
"Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and his country,"' McCain said. He pledged to do "all in my power" to assist him and urged his backers "to find ways to come together" for the good of the country.
Obama will be the 44th president of the United Sates of America. The Illinois senator capped his 21-month quest for the highest office in the country with a sweeping electoral victory that also enhanced the Democrats' majority in Congress and marked the end of an era of Republican dominance in Washington, DC. The twin victories put Democrats in firm control of the federal government for the first time since the early 1990s.
Obama's victory also represented a break with the razor-thin margins in the last two presidential elections. In 2004, the election was too close to call until the next morning, when Democrat John Kerry conceded defeat after concluding that he couldn't surpass Bush's vote total in the decisive state of Ohio.
Four years earlier, Bush's victory over vice-president Albert Gore, Jr, was in doubt for more than five weeks while Florida recounted its ballots. The Supreme Court finally halted the recount in December, and Gore conceded defeat.
Source : DNA India
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Barack Obama created history on Tuesday when he became the first black man to be elected president of the United States of America.
The Democratic candidate went past the magic figure of 270 electoral college votes when US television networks reported that he was on course to win the elections in California, which has 55 votes, and Washington state, which has 11. That took Obama's tally to 273.
Wild cheering broke out in Chicago, where the Illinois senator lives and where a huge crowd had gathered as the evening wore on, when the networks called California and Washington for Obama at 11pm Eastern Standard Time.
Fifteen minutes later Republican candidate John McCain appeared in public in Phoenix, Arizona, to concede defeat and congratulate Obama on his victory.
The Associated Press also called Obama the winner in Florida, Washington, and Oregon, and CNN and NBC said he had won Hawaii. That brought his total to at least 324 votes. The tally was set to grow as results came in from states that had backed George W Bush in 2004 and are expected to switch sides.
Obama's victory in Florida gave him all 27 electoral votes from the fourth most populous state in the US. While Florida voted Republican in eight of the 10 previous presidential elections, most opinion polls since late September had given Obama an edge.
Florida, along with Pennsylvania and Ohio, has played a critical role in presidential elections for nearly 50 years. No candidate since 1960 has won the presidency without capturing two of the three. Obama captured all three.
McCain said he called his rival "to congratulate him on being elected the next president".
"Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and his country,"' McCain said. He pledged to do "all in my power" to assist him and urged his backers "to find ways to come together" for the good of the country.
Obama will be the 44th president of the United Sates of America. The Illinois senator capped his 21-month quest for the highest office in the country with a sweeping electoral victory that also enhanced the Democrats' majority in Congress and marked the end of an era of Republican dominance in Washington, DC. The twin victories put Democrats in firm control of the federal government for the first time since the early 1990s.
Obama's victory also represented a break with the razor-thin margins in the last two presidential elections. In 2004, the election was too close to call until the next morning, when Democrat John Kerry conceded defeat after concluding that he couldn't surpass Bush's vote total in the decisive state of Ohio.
Four years earlier, Bush's victory over vice-president Albert Gore, Jr, was in doubt for more than five weeks while Florida recounted its ballots. The Supreme Court finally halted the recount in December, and Gore conceded defeat.
Source : DNA India