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CHICAGO — A triumphant Barack Obama vowed to be a president for all America, even those who voted against him, and asked for patience to address the nation’s problems of war and finance that he called the greatest challenges of a lifetime.

The first black president-elect cast his election as a defining moment in the country’s 232-year history and a rebuke to cynicism, fear and doubt.

“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,” he said in his first public words after winning the election.

His victory speech was delivered before a multiracial crowd that city officials estimated at 240,000 people. Many cried and nodded their heads while he spoke, surrounded by clear bulletproof screens on his left and right.

He appeared on stage with his wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, poised to become the first family of color ever to occupy the White House. Every family member dressed in black and red, and Obama told his daughters during his speech that they would get the puppy he promised would come with a victory.

“Even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century,” he said. “There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and, for us to lead, alliances to repair.”

He was already suggesting a second term to accomplish his goals, saying he expected “setbacks and false starts.”

“We may not get there in one year or even one term,” he said. “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.”

To those who voted against him, he said, “I will be your president, too.”

Obama, an Illinois senator born 47 years ago of a white American mother and a black African father, sprinkled his address with references to the civil rights struggle. He paid tribute to Ann Nixon Cooper, a 106-year-old daughter of slaves born at a time when women and blacks couldn’t vote. She cast her ballot in Atlanta Tuesday, Obama said.

He quoted another president from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, and although he didn’t mention Martin Luther King Jr.’s name, he echoed King’s statement that “we shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Obama invited “those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.”

The president-elect said he looks forward to working with Republican rival John McCain, who called him to concede as The Associated Press and television networks called the race at 11 p.m. EST. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama thanked McCain for his graciousness and told him he had waged a tough race.

Gibbs quoted Obama as saying to McCain: “I need your help. You’re a leader on so many important issues”

President Bush called Obama shortly after the Illinois senator hung up with McCain, and Vice President Dick Cheney called Obama running mate Joe Biden.
Obama watched McCain’s concession speech from his suite in a downtown hotel, where he had watched returns with Biden, his extended family and senior campaign staff.

A few blocks away, the crowd in Grant Park that included celebrities Brad Pitt and Oprah Winfrey erupted into cheers to see their chosen candidate break the White House color barrier. Audience members leapt into the air, waving American flags.

The size of the group, spread out toward the Chicago skyline a few blocks in the distance, reflected the eye-popping crowds that Obama drew throughout his campaign. Even the weather favored Obama — the temperature was around 60 degrees as he spoke, unusual for a November night in Chicago.

Obama began the day by casting his vote with his wife and daughters at his side.

He unwound while waiting for returns by playing two hours of basketball with friends and staff, then eating a steak dinner at home with his immediate family and in-laws.

He made a final Election Day campaign stop in Indiana, one of several longtime Republican strongholds in the presidential race that he tried to win. It was a symbolic ending of a campaign for a candidate who first made his name with an address to the Democratic National Convention four years ago in which he decried efforts to “slice and dice our country into red states and blue states.”

He repeated that sentiment in his victory speech. “We have never been a collection of red states and blue states. We are, and always will be, the United States of America,” he said.

President-elect Barack Obama’s remarks in Chicago

OBAMA TRANSCRIPT
Text of Democrat Barack Obama’s speech in Chicago after winning the presidential election, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions:

OBAMA: Hello, Chicago.
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.

It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that 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.

It’s the answer that led those who’ve been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

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

A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain.

Senator McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he’s fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.

I congratulate him; I congratulate Governor Palin for all that they’ve achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation’s promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton ... and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years ... the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation’s next first lady ... Michelle Obama.

Sasha and Malia ... I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us ...to the new White House.

And while she’s no longer with us, I know my grandmother’s watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you’ve given me. I am grateful to them.

And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe ... the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best — the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.

To my chief strategist David Axelrod ... who’s been a partner with me every step of the way.

To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics ... you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you’ve sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn’t start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.

It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation’s apathy ... who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.

It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.

This is your victory.

And I know you didn’t do this just to win an election. And I know you didn’t do it for me.

You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.

Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.

There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they’ll make the mortgage or pay their doctors’ bills or save enough for their child’s college education.

There’s new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in 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.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!

OBAMA: There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won’t agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can’t solve every problem.

But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it’s been done in America for 221 years — block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.
This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

It can’t happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.
Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.

In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let’s resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let’s remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

To those — to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

That’s the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we’ve already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight’s about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta.

She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons — because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

OBAMA: When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

OBAMA: She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

OBAMA: A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

OBAMA: America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves — if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.

Obama wins Ohio, Michigan

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Barack Obama claimed a win in Ohio’s presidential election Tuesday, while other candidates’ hopes were left with voters who feared the economy and worried about their family’s finances.

Ohioans lined up early Tuesday to cast ballots in a state that has suffered from housing foreclosures and soaring unemployment since it carried President Bush to a second term four years ago.

The election ended hard-fought campaigns set to realign the U.S. Congress and the Ohio Legislature. Voters also picked Democrat Richard Cordray to replace a scandal-riddled attorney general. Elsewhere on the ballot, voters rejected casino gambling and kept a law capping interest rates on payday loans.

Republicans kept all seven seats on the state Supreme Court, as two Cleveland-area challengers proved unsuccessful.

Most eyes focused on the high-profile presidential contest between Republican John McCain and Obama, who spent $2.7 million during the campaign’s final week on television ads.

Early returns favored Obama, who found an advantage in counties that four years early supported President Bush’s re-election. With almost a million votes counted, Obama led 60 percent to McCain’s 39 percent.

Karen Hankerson, who has spent eight months searching for employment after losing her job as a clerical worker in Cincinnati, said she voted for Obama.

“I think he’s the right person for the job. It’s not just because he’s black. I think he’s fiercely intelligent and personable and very grounded,” Hankerson, 43, said.

Exit polls for The Associated Press and television networks found that six out of 10 Ohio voters said the economy is the most important issue now facing the country.

Overall, about nine out of 10 Ohio voters say they’re worried about the direction of the economy in the next year. Almost everyone voting Tuesday says the nation’s economy is in bad shape.

Scattered voting problems were reported around the state — some people had to wait in line for an hour, a few voting machines malfunctioned and poll workers in some precincts feared running out of paper ballots — but it was an otherwise smooth Election Day, officials said.

One voter was arrested at a suburban Cleveland polling location. Richard Jones — president of the Cleveland chapter of the National Action Network, the Rev. Al Sharpton’s civil-rights organization — said the machine that scanned his ballot at Solon High School began beeping and workers were forced to turn it off. Jones said he returned later because he was concerned that his vote wouldn’t be counted and got into an argument with an elections worker.

Solon police Lt. Jim Abramowski confirmed that an arrest was made at the school on charges of resisting arrest, criminal trespass and disorderly conduct.

Abramowski wouldn’t identify the person who was arrested nor the circumstances.
Andrew Greenaway, 18, a Cleveland State University student, cast his first-ever vote for Obama in a meeting room of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral near his campus dormitory.

“All my buddies told me to vote for Obama,” said Greenaway, who didn’t keep up with the campaign but called Obama “the buzz” on campus.

Polls ahead of Election Day showed Obama slightly ahead, but in a campaign that has been remarkably unpredictable, Obama and McCain aides alike were bracing for a long night.

No Republican has ever won the White House without carrying Ohio. Only two Democrats have done so. The state has voted for the winning candidate in every election since 1964.

Bob Mihocik, 59, an ex-Navy pilot who cast his ballot in Westlake in suburban Cleveland, voted for McCain as did his wife, Jackie, who said she felt McCain was better equipped to keep the nation safe and lower taxes.

Election officials early in the day predicted an 80 percent turnout, yet the state’s top elections official, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, said indications from the state’s more populous counties, such as Cuyahoga and Lucas, showed Ohio could fall short.

Issue 6 would have given the state its first Las Vegas-style casino near the southwest Ohio town of Wilmington. Ohio voters have rejected statewide gambling three times before since 1990.

The payday lending law cuts the annual percentage rate that lenders can charge to 28 percent and limit the number of loans customers can take to four per year.

Cordray, the state treasurer, raised more than $2.5 million to compete against Republican Mike Crites, a former U.S. attorney for southern Ohio.

Former Democratic Attorney General Marc Dann resigned in May amid a sexual harassment scandal that involved his top aides and female subordinates.

With momentum on Democrats’ side, the Ohio GOP honed its efforts to defend existing offices and capture a few other targeted seats. They acknowledge they faced long odds.

Republicans hold an 11-7 majority in the Ohio congressional delegation, but saw three of their veteran lawmakers — U.S. Reps. Deborah Pryce, Ralph Regula and David Hobson — bow out of their re-election efforts. Democrats believe the first two seats are their best shots for party turnover.

Democrats, likewise, eyed two seats on the Supreme Court. A pair of northeast Ohio judges — Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Joseph Russo and Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Peter Sikora — tried to break the all-GOP hold of the court and failed. Justice Maureen O’Connor, a former lieutenant governor to Bob Taft, and Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, who sought her third, six-year term both were successful.

In the Statehouse, Democrats were aiming at capturing the Ohio House for the first time since 1994. To do so, Democrats would have to win four GOP-controlled seats in the 99-seat chamber. The breakdown as of Tuesday morning was 53-46.

Exit poll: Economic fears propelled Obama in Michigan

DETROIT — Michigan voters decided Barack Obama was better suited than John McCain to get the stalled economy on the road to recovery, preliminary results from an exit poll showed.

The economy was uppermost in people’s minds during Tuesday’s election in a state battered by the auto industry’s woes long before the economic slowdown hit the rest of the nation. Nearly two-thirds said it was the most important issue, far outpacing the war in Iraq, health care and other topics. About six in 10 of those voters went with Obama.

“I haven’t worked in over a year. It is absolutely terrible,” hairdresser Dennis Moffitt, 47, said after voting for the Democratic nominee in Eaton County’s Windsor Township.

Obama also drew solid backing from women, blacks and young voters, while outdueling Republican John McCain for swing voters who described themselves as moderate and independent.

About nine in 10 voters said they were worried about the direction of the nation’s economy over the next year, while a similar majority described the economic situation as poor or “not so good.” Obama won handily among those voters. Nearly eight in 10 of those satisfied with the economy backed McCain, but they were a tiny fraction of the electorate.

The numbers were much the same when voters were asked whether the job situation in their area was better or worse than four years ago.

Those on the lower end of the income ladder were more favorable toward Obama.

He picked up the votes of six in 10 whose family income was below $50,000 a year, although Obama also won a slight majority of those earning over $50,000. That was a reversal from 2004, when George W. Bush carried the over-$50,000 group by a similar margin.

McCain even fell short of a majority with voters earning over $100,000, who were about evenly divided.

Maria Campanale, 50, a Birmingham mortgage banker, voted a straight Democratic ticket after twice supporting Bush. It wasn’t easy, she said. But she was fearful for “all these people who are losing their homes.”

“I think it’s going to take a Democratic administration to fix that,” she said.

McCain tried to sow doubts about Obama’s economic plan by accusing him of wanting to redistribute wealth instead of create it. Some voters agreed — but too few to help the Arizona senator.

“I think Barack is more of a socialist,” said Kristen Moran, 55, of Birmingham, owner of a Pontiac dealership.

Meanwhile, Obama apparently neutralized any lingering resentment women may have felt over his defeat of Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. About six in 10 women supported him, including about nine in 10 Democratic women — white and black.

He won a narrow majority among men, who were evenly divided between Kerry and George W. Bush four years ago, and battled McCain to a draw among white men — a solid pro-Bush bloc in the previous election.

Blacks, already among the most reliably Democratic voters, overwhelmingly supported the first black nominee on a major party ticket. Obama captured the votes of well over nine in 10 blacks, a margin surpassing black support for Kerry, Al Gore and Bill Clinton.

Nearly eight in 10 voters said the candidates’ race was not an important factor. But nearly two-thirds of those who felt differently voted for Obama.

The poll suggested Bush’s unpopularity damaged McCain, despite his efforts to put distance between them. A majority of voters said McCain would mainly continue his predecessor’s policies, while about four in 10 said he would take the country in a new direction. More than three-quarters disapproved of Bush’s job performance.

About one in 10 voters were participating in their first election, and nearly eight in 10 back Obama. He also won handily among voters ages 25 and younger and carried other age groups by smaller margins except voters 65 and older, who were about evenly divided.

The survey of 3,079 voters was conducted for AP by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. Most were interviewed in a random sample of 50 precincts statewide Tuesday; 504 who voted early or absentee were interviewed by landline telephone over the last week. Results for the full sample were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, higher for subgroups.

Obama takes formidable lead

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama built a formidable lead in his bid to become the first black president Tuesday night, pushing ahead of John McCain in a nation clamoring for change. Fellow Democrats took four Senate seats from Republicans, and reached for more.

Obama gained precious ground in Pennsylvania, winning the state's 21 electoral votes and depriving McCain of the Democratic-leaning state where he had tried hardest to break through. Obama also swept through territory typically friendly to Democrats in the East and Midwest.

McCain countered in the safest of Republican states.

That left the battlegrounds to settle the race: Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado and more. Most were customarily Republican, but Obama spent millions hoping to peel away enough to make him the 44th president, and his triumph in Pennsylvania left the Republican with scant room for error.

"May God bless whoever wins tonight," President Bush told dinner guests at the White House, according to spokeswoman Dana Perino.

A jubilant crowd of thousands gathered in Grant Park in downtown Chicago on an unseasonably mild night, confident it would be Obama.

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