Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Barack Obama Will Be Next President of the United States; Democrats Picking Up Congressional Seats in Traditionally Red, Republican States


U.S. Election 2008 Special Report

Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Time: 10:45pm eastern, 7:45pm West Coast Time

Democratic candidate for President Barack Obama is on a clear path to be the next President of the United States. Based on his current number of electoral votes, along with the number of Obama-favorable states yet to be counted, Fresh & Easy Buzz projects the Senator from Illinois will be the next President of the United States of America.

At press time the Democratic Senator from Illinois has already captured 207 out of the needed 270 electoral votes to win the Presidency. Just 63 electoral votes remain for Mr. Obama to win the Presidency. California alone, where Obama is favored to win by nearly 20 points, provides over half of those 62 electoral votes all by itself.

Arizona Republican Senator John McCain has just 135 electoral votes at press time.

The two candidates are neck-to-neck in the popular vote, with Obama at 50% and McCain at 49%. However it's the electoral votes that will determine the next President of the United States.

With the polls just getting ready to close in the Western U.S., Obama seems sure to reach 270 electoral votes, and far more than that, perhaps even before California, Oregon, Washington state and the other Western States where Obama is expected to win by a wide margin even report results.

Obama also is favored to win in the Western U.S. states of Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, although polls taken just before today's election showed a neck-to-neck race, especially Nevada. But the national trend at present is in Obama's favor, as it is for the Democrats in general.

And in John McCain's home state of Arizona, polls showed the Republican Senator from Arizona with only a two -to- four percentage point lead as of last night, which is within the margin of error.

At the current electoral vote pace for Obama, he could lose Nevada, Arizona, and perhaps even New Mexico, and still get the magical 270 electoral votes needed to become President.

The Democrats also have so far picked up a number of key seats in the U.S. Senate which were previously held by Republicans.

These states so far include Virginia, where former Governor Mark Warner has defeated his Republican challenger for the Senate seat vacated by the retirement of longtime Virginia Republican John Warner (no relation), who retired this year. Virginia traditionally votes Republican. But with the election of Mark Warner, both of the historically red state's U.S. Senators are now Democrats.

In North Carolina, traditionally a Republican state, challenger Kay Hagen has defeated Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole, the wife of former Kansas Senator and former Republican candidate for President Bob Dole.

In New Hampshire, incumbent Republic Senator John Sununu has just conceded defeat to his Democratic challenger, former New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen, according to a flash report on the Manchester Union Leader newspaper Web site. The two faced-off against each other for the Senate seat in 2002, with Sununu winning. Six years later the first woman Governor of New Hampshire bested the Republican incumbent. New Hampshire, like North Carolina and Virginia, are traditional Republican stronghold states.

For up-to-the-minute, updated election results you can go to the Real Clear Politics.com Web site here.

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