(2nd LD) Obama elected as first black U.S. president

(ATTN: CHANGES headline; UPDATES with more details, background throughout)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 (Yonhap) -- Barack Obama was elected the first
African-American president Tuesday amid the worst economic crisis in decades and
an unpopular war on terror that has cost hundreds of billions of dollars and the
lives of more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers.
Obama became the third incumbent senator to go directly to the White House at the
end of a 21-month campaign that cost more than US$1 billion, the largest amount
in U.S. election history.
"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all
things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our Founders is alive in
our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your
answer," Obama told a cheering crowd of tens of thousands at Grant Park in
Chicago.
In his acceptance speech, the Illinois senator called for unity among Republicans
and Democrats and across all races. "We have never been just a collection of
individuals or a collection of red states and blue states; we are and always will
be the United States of America."
In Phoenix, Obama's Republican rival John McCain told a gathering at the Biltmore
Hotel, "I am honored to congratulate him on being elected the next president of
the country."
The concession was made soon after major U.S. media organizations projected the
Democratic candidate as winning the presidency.
Obama has garnered 338 electoral votes, including those for Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Virginia and several other major swing states as of midnight. A minimum of 270
votes are needed for the presidency. Ballot counting was still underway for
California and other coastal states in later time zones. McCain won just 157
votes as of press time.
Among voters nationwide, Obama has won 50.9 million votes, or 51 percent of the
popular vote, while McCain has won 47.1 million, or 47 percent.
Obama's victory came after a series of roller-coaster public opinion polls that
swung between the two candidates. Numbers began tipping towards the Democratic
contender following the outbreak of the financial meltdown caused by the
collapsed U.S. housing market and the ensuing subprime mortgage crisis.
Obama trailed McCain in most public opinion polls in September, when the
Republican rival nominated Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. But
with financial woes spreading across the globe, voters began singling out the
economy as the number one issue this election season.
Obama is expected to attend the G20 financial summit, slated to be held in
Washington on Nov. 15, in his capacity as president-elect. White House officials
have said they would invite the president-elect to dispel concerns among foreign
heads of state about the commitment to the summit meeting agenda by the outgoing
administration under President George W. Bush.
U.S. officials have said that while both Obama and McCain refrained from saying
whether they would attend the summit during the campaign to avoid coming across
as arrogant, neither had reason not to attend.
Millions of Americans turned out at polling stations across the country earlier
in the day. Most opinion polls showed Obama leading McCain by several percentage
points, with some suggesting the current administration's handling of the recent
economic meltdown may have swayed undecided voters towards the Democratic
candidate.
Of the 153 million registered voters, nearly 30 million had already cast absentee
ballots by Monday, election authorities said. They predicted that more than 100
million voters will show up at polling places to mark the highest voter turnout
in U.S. election history.
Earlier in the day, Obama flew to Indianapolis immediately after voting at a
Chicago polling station along with his wife, Michelle, in a last-minute effort to
take Indiana, a traditionally Republican state. No Democratic presidential
nominee has won in Indiana since 1964.
In a speech to supporters there, Obama said that McCain would simply continue the
failed economic policies of the incumbent president, adding that the U.S. must
regain global leadership, which has been severely undermined during Bush's
eight-year term.
McCain, meanwhile, cast his ballot at a Phoenix church before returning to the
campaign trail in Colorado and New Mexico.
He vowed to continue stumping "until the polls close," describing Obama as being
"on the far left of America's liberal tradition" and attacking his "spread the
wealth" tax policies.
McCain denounced Obama as too inexperienced to deal with the current economic
crisis and called his proposal to pull out U.S. forces from Iraq naive.
Also at stake in this election are 35 Senate seats, 435 House seats and 11
gubernatorial posts.
Buoyed by Obama's popularity, Democrats expect to reach the magic number of 60
seats in the Senate from their current 49, enough to prevent filibusters and
ensure swift passage of Democratic-led initiatives. Democrats currently have 236
seats in the House of Representatives.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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