Chicago - Barack Obama, the first African American ever elected to the US presidency, told tens of thousands of cheering supporters in Chicago Tuesday night that a "new dawn" of US leadership had arrived.

"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 told the throngs that gathered in Grant Park.

Washington - Republican John McCain quickly conceded defeat in Tuesday's election, congratulating Democrat Barack Obama for his historic victory and urging Americans to help the new president meet the country's challenges.

Speaking from his campaign headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, McCain told his supporters to cast aside differences with Obama and the Democrats. McCain, 72, said he telephoned Obama, 47, a few minutes earlier to congratulate Obama and his family.

Washington - US Senator Hillary Clinton called the election of Democratic nominee Barack Obama as US president "an historic victory for the American people."

The wife of former president Bill Clinton, Senator Clinton narrowly lost the centre-left Democratic Party's presidential nomination to Obama before endorsing the Illinois senator.

"This was a long and hard fought campaign but the result was well worth the wait," Clinton said.

Washington, Nov 5: Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has created history by defeating his Republican rival John McCain to become the first Black President of the United States.

The 47-year-old Democratic senator from Illinois swept to victory over his Republican opponent McCain by building an Electoral College majority of 367 votes to McCain’s 168 at the time of filing the story.

Meanwhile, McCain has conceded defeat to Obama, telling supporters “the failure is mine.”

Washington, Nov 5: Even as Democrat Barack Obama today registered a historic landslide victory with 338 votes against 155 to his rival John McCain, a leading Republican election wizard in the US, who was instrumental in US President George Bush’s two successive victories, had predicted a clearcut victory to Obama, even in the states where the Democratic candidate led by only a slim margin.

Karl Rove had predicted a landslide for Barack Obama, sweeping to victory with 338 electoral votes against the 270 he needs to win.

Tokyo - People in the small north-central Japanese town of Obama danced through the night and into Wednesday morning in anticipation of the community's namesake being elected US president.

The Obama Boys were practicing their hula dancing with a plan to make their debut when Barack Obama is declared president.

Their stage was set up at the town hall, where more than 200 people gathered in the city of 32,000 for an all-day party with six television screens set up for live reports of the election returns.