Obama set to make election history
The marathon US presidential election came to a close on Tuesday with Democrat Barack Obama favoured to defeat Republican John McCain and make history as the first black American commander in chief.
As the polls began closing, The Associated Press called Kentucky for McCain and Vermont for Obama.
A record number of citizens were expected to have cast ballots in an election that stood to change the political face of a nation burdened with its worst economic crisis in nearly 80 years and still fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The economy was by far the top issue on voters' minds and a huge drag on McCain, who Obama successfully tied to unpopular President George W. Bush.
An Associated Press exit poll found six in 10 voters across the US named the economy as the most important issue facing the country. None of four other issues on the list -- energy, Iraq, terror or health care -- was chosen by more than one in 10. The results are based on a preliminary partial sample of nearly 10,000 voters in Election Day exit polls and telephone interviews over the past week for early voters.
The results in Kentucky and Vermont had been expected. Polls also have closed in Indiana, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia, but winners in those states were not immediately apparent.
The Democrats went into the election hoping to gain seats in both chambers of Congress, and early returns showed a pickup already of one Senate seat.
Obama's fortunes would rise dramatically with either of those states in his column. A victory for the first-term Illinois senator would appear nearly certain should he hold reliably Democratic Pennsylvania and pick off either Ohio or Florida, both of which gave their huge 47-electoral vote prizes to Bush in 2000 and 2004.
To win, one candidate must pile up at least 270 electoral votes in what amounts to a state-by-state election for president. Most pre-vote polling of the states showed Obama near or already above the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. The 538 electoral votes are apportioned among the states roughly according to population.
An estimated 187 million voters were eligible, and in an indication of interest in the battle for the White House, about 40 million already had voted as election day dawned. Turnout was heavy. In Virginia, for example, officials estimated nearly 75% of eligible voters would cast ballots.
