"This is your Victory"

Last night, Senator Barack Obama was elected as our next president with 338 electoral votes compared to Senator John McCain's 163. He spoke last night at Grant Park in his hometown of Chicago and addressed the nation for the first time as President Elect.

Riding a Democratic tide that bolstered the party's presence in both houses of Congress, Obama snared about 62.5 million votes to McCain's 55.5 million, according to totals early Wednesday. According to exit polls, Obama crushed McCain among women voters (56 percent to 43 percent); voters under 30 (66 percent to 32 percent); African-American voters (95 percent to 4 percent); Latino voters (66 percent to 32 percent); first-time voters (68 percent to 31 percent); and voters making less than $100,000 a year (55 percent to 43 percent). As he claimed victory Tuesday night, Obama told supporters, "change has come to America. The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America -- I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you -- we as a people will get there," Obama said in Chicago before an estimated crowd of up to 240,000 people.

With Obama's win, he becomes the first African-American to win the White House.