Obama is to be the 44th President

Dead on 5 pm, when the eastern polls close, the TV networks have called the race for Obama, with 287 electoral votes in the bag – 17 more than needed. He is the President-Elect of the United States and on the 20th of January 2009 will become the 44th President of the United States.

I predict he will get over 300 easily.

5.25 pm: McCain is doing his concession speech.

5.33 pm: Obama now has 333 votes to 155 for McCain. He has picked up Florida (27), North Carolina (15), Virginia (13), Ohio (20), Iowa (7), Colorado (9) and New Mexico (5). He also leads by 3% on the national vote or by 3,000,000 votes.

6.15 pm – and a great acceptance speech by Obama.