Title: Barack Obama to be America's first black president | US elections 2008 | The Guardian
Headings: Barack Obama to be America's first black president
Barack Obama to be America's first black president
Content: Obama was projected to hold on to all the states the Democrats took in 2004, and win half a dozen or more of the battleground states that had been held by the Republicans. The Democrat was projected to win New Hampshire, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington DC, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey. McCain was projected to win Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and South Carolina. Fears that many white voters would in the privacy of the polling booth fail to vote for a black candidate appeared to be unfounded. Americans voted in record numbers throughout the day as they finally got the chance to turn their backs on Bush's disastrous presidency and choose a new leader after America's longest and costliest election campaign. From the eastern shores of Virginia, across the industrial heartland of Ohio, and on to the Rocky mountain states of Colorado and New Mexico and beyond, poll workers and voters reported long lines and waits of several hours in the most eagerly anticipated US election for half a century. Turnout was at levels not seen since women were first given the vote in 1920. Election officials predicted turnout would come close to 90% in Virginia and Colorado, and 80% in Ohio and Missouri. The chance to choose America's first black president drew out more minority voters than in recent elections, turnout experts said. White voters represented 81% of the US electorate eight years ago and 74% this year, according to exit polls.