Obama Delivers Remarks in Chicago

Barack Obama has captured the battleground state of Pennsylvania, giving him a crucial early advantage over John McCain in the race to serve as the 44th president of the United States.

With the polls now closed in more than half the country, the Democratic nominee's victory in Pennsylvania as well as his win in New Hampshire significantly narrow any potential path to victory for McCain. The Republican nominee had been counting on winning Pennsylvania, which Democrats have won in the last two cycles, to offset any victories by Obama in red states. And McCain had also hoped to win the Granite State, which has backed him twice in Republican primaries. Obama has also won at least a dozen other states -- including the vital midwestern states of Michigan and Minnesota -- and the District of Columbia. McCain has won at least six, including North Dakota, where Obama ran ads late in the campaign.

Neither senator has yet taken a state that was won by the opposing party in 2004. But surveys have shown Obama leading or competitive in at least a dozen states won by President Bush in the election, while McCain did not have a measurable lead in any state captured by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) that year.

Obama and McCain have combined to raise and spend unprecedented sums of money and deployed massive campaign operations, with experts predicting that more Americans will vote in this presidential election than in any previous contest. Early exit polls suggested that those voters were overwhelmingly concerned with the stumbling economy, believing the country to be badly off track. That makes today's vote a referendum on which candidate is better equipped to steer the country through economic turbulence.

Their choice: A freshman Democratic Illinois senator who has risen on a message of "change" to become the first African American major party nominee for president, or a veteran Republican Arizona senator and decorated former prisoner of war promising steady leadership in tough times. Between the primary and general election campaigns, Obama and McCain have combined to raise more than $1 billion, shattering all previous records.

Massive voter turnout brought reports of long lines at polling places across the country, from fire stations and retirement communities in South Florida to libraries and churches in Seattle. With little left to do but watch the returns and hope, both presidential tickets spent the day casting their own votes and squeezing in a few last-minute public appearances before retiring to their respective home bases.

Obama made a stop in Indiana, while McCain campaigned in Colorado and New Mexico. All three states have voted Republican in recent cycles, a microcosm of the playing field on which the two campaigns have competed in the last weeks of the season.