680NEWS

"It's been a long time coming, but tonight because of what we did on this day in this election at this defining moment, change has come to America," Obama, 47, told thousands of supporters at Grant Park in Chicago, Tuesday night.

"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," he said.

As Obama gave his speech, the crowd of about 240,000 people cheered "yes, we can," which were met with replies of "yes, we did."

In New York's Times Square, thousands of people gathered to celebrate Obama's win as well on Tuesday.

Republican John McCain called Obama to concede the election before his speech in Arizona. An Obama spokesperson said McCain phoned his Democratic rival at 11 p.m. (EST), just after several television networks pronounced Obama the winner.

In his speech, McCain, 72, congratulated Obama on his "historic" election as president of "the greatest nation on Earth."

Obama clinched the heavy-weight states of Florida and California, along with Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Illinois earlier in the evening.

The election marked the United States' highest voter turnout in a century at 64 per cent. It was also the election that saw the highest number of under 35-year-olds as well as African-Americans come out to cast their ballot.

Obama was projected to win Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Wisconsin, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Nevada and New Mexico.

His key victories were the battleground states of Virginia, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Meantime, McCain won Alabama, Arkansas, Wyoming, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Kentucky, Vermont and Kansas. He also won in Texas, Utah, Iowa and Mississippi.

Obama also won the states in the East and Midwest that traditionally go blue. In all, he received about 62.7 million votes to McCain's 55.5 million, based on Wednesday's results.

Tuesday saw a record number of voters -- a 64 per cent national turnout, which was the highest in a century.

Obama got 51 per cent of the popular vote to McCain's 48 -- and 338 of the 538 Electoral College votes required to become the president. He only needed 270 to win the White House. McCain garnered 163 of the college votes.

He will have his inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20.

Image of Barack Obama in New York City - Photo by Suzy Dias Guerra