Obama takes early lead as election results stream in
— -- Democrat Barack Obama took an early electoral vote lead Tuesday in the race for president, scoring wins in eight states and Washington, D.C., according to Associated Press projections. Republican John McCain was declared the winner in four states.
Obama has won Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont and the District of Columbia, the wire service projects, while McCain has won Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee. Still not projected are all of the battleground states that are expected to decide the presidential election.
By AP projections, Obama has 78 electoral votes; McCain has 34. A total of 270 electoral votes are needed to win the presidency.
Tonight will be historic, no matter what the outcome. If Obama wins, he will become the first African-American president; a victory by McCain will put into office the oldest person ever elected to a first term, as well as the first female vice president in Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
In early election results, Obama led McCain nationally, 53.4% to 45.8%.
Turnout appeared to be high in many parts of the nation. Lines of voters formed at polling places as early as 4 a.m. in many states, and the AP reported that turnout in Ohio — one of the key states in this election — might approach 80% of registered voters
Except for snow in the Rockies and Northwest and rain along the Mid-Atlantic coast, weather did not appear to be a factor in voter turnout, which was heavy in some states.
Early surveys of voters, conducted by a consortium of news organizations, indicated 60% listed the economy as their most important issue, with no other issue — including the war on Iraq and terrorism — getting more than 10%.
More than 80% of voters said they were very worried the current economic crisis will harm their family's finances over the next year, but 47% also said they felt the economy will improve in the next year. Two-thirds said they were worried about obtaining health care.
Only 28% of those polled said they approved of President Bush's job performance — an issue Obama hammered on throughout the campaign as he tried to tie McCain to Bush.
There were sporadic long lines reported at polling places around the country. In Columbus, Ohio, there were short lines or no lines at most polling places after a burst of early morning voting.
Four years ago, the state suffered long voting lines on Election Day when some voters had to wait more than six hours to cast their ballot. This year, at least 1.5 million of Ohio's 8 million voters took advantage of absentee voting that permitted casting ballots by mail or in-person at election offices. The state also added thousands of voting machines to reduce waiting.
