If Barack Obama wins , he will become the first African-American president . If McCain wins , Sarah Palin will be the nation 's first female vice president . Nineteen of the 43 presidents have been Republicans ; 14 have been Democrats . Either McCain or Obama will become only the third senator to move directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House . The last Democrat to win a presidential election was Lyndon Johnson in 1964 ( who won by only one point ) and Bill Clinton in 1992 ( who lost by less than 1 percentage point ).
If Barack Obama wins , he will become the first African-American president . If McCain wins , Sarah Palin will be the nation 's first female vice president . Nineteen of the 43 presidents have been Republicans ; 14 have been Democrats . The last Democrat to win a presidential election was Lyndon Johnson in 1964 ( who won by only one point ) and Bill Clinton in 1992 ( who lost by less than 1 percentage point ).