12.55pm AEST / 8.55pm US Eastern
Senator Barack Obama is within sight of becoming the next President of the United States.
Obama is well ahead in Pennsylvania, the state regarded as the key to a McCain win. He is also leading in Florida, 51-48%, with 41% counted. Without these states, McCain cannot win.
Obama has won the traditional clutch of Democratic states in the north-east: Vermont, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington DC, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
McCain has won Kentucky, South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and Oklahoma, all traditional Republican states.
Obama is holding his own in North Carolina but is well behind in Virginia, the state where he has been predicted to win for some weeks.
The Democrats have picked up extra Senate seats in Virginia and North Carolina.
