Washington - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has captured the key states of Michigan and Wisconsin, US networks projected as soon as polls in those states closed Tuesday, while McCain's new wins included North Dakota and Kansas.

Michigan, a state with 17 electoral votes that has severely suffered from the faltering US economy, was once considered a possibility for McCain, but he pulled his campaign operation out of the state in September.

Washington - Republican John McCa

Washington - Americans headed to the polls Tuesday in a historic presidential election as Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama made a final push for votes in key battleground states.

McCain campaigned in Colorado where he claimed he had regained momentum and expressed confidence that he would defeat Obama when all the ballots are counted.

Washington - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Tuesday he has regained momentum and expressed confidence that he would overtake Democrat Barack Obama when all the ballots are counted.

"I feel momentum," McCain said in one of his final rallies in Grand Junction, Colorado, before polling stations close Tuesday evening. "We are going to win this election, we are going to win it right here in Colorado."

Washington - As Republican presidential candidate John McCain arrived at the Albright United Methodist Church in Phoenix, Arizona Tuesday to vote, scores of supporters cheered: "Go, John, go."

McCain was with his wife Cindy. In a break from tradition, he planned two final rallies on voting day - at an airplane hangar in Grand Junction, Colorado and later in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Both states went with President George W Bush in 2004, but polls have indicated that they are now leaning toward Obama.

Washington/Chicago - Tens of thousands of US voters waited patiently in serpentine queues Tuesday to vote in the country's historic election. Many had started lining up before dawn, some braved pouring rain to cast their ballot.

Officials were prepared for an unprecedented turnout as voters delivered their verdict on Democrat Barack Obama, 47, and his Republican rival John McCain, 72, after the longest and most expensive campaign in US history.