Obama is elected president

D emocratic Senator Barack Obama was elected by popular vote Tuesday as the first African-American president of the United States of America.

Even though states such as Missouri and North Carolina were too close to call, Obama won the election with 349 electoral votes, compared with opponent Senator John McCain’s 163. Many states’ electoral votes changed parties from 2004’s election, including battleground states Florida, Indiana and Ohio.

“To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn,” Obama said in his acceptance speech Tuesday night in Chicago’s Grant Park, “I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help and I will be your president too.”

Before Obama spoke in Chicago, McCain gave a concession speech in Phoenix, Ariz.

“I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him,” McCain said, “but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together, to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity…”

Near the beginning of his speech Obama referenced one of his campaign slogans, a word he has been quoted saying for months — change.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Obama said, “but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.”