America's Historic Verdict

Americans voted in epic numbers yesterday in the most eagerly anticipated US election for half a century, finally getting the chance to turn their back on eight years of George Bush and choose a president they hope will end the Iraq war, restore the country's image abroad and, above all, bring economic stability.

From the eastern shores of Virginia, across the industrial heartland of Ohio and on to the Rocky Mountain states of Colorado and New Mexico and beyond, poll workers and voters reported long lines and waits of several hours.

In a country that has a reputation for normally low interest at election time, turnout in Georgia was projected at 90% based on early votes and more than 80% in Nevada.

Reflecting the intensity of the campaign, Barack Obama and John McCain put in a final burst of campaigning after casting their own votes.

Obama made a final dash from his home in Chicago to neighboring Indiana, which was Republican in 2004. Reporters traveling with him said the candidate was in a subdued rather than celebratory mood, perhaps reflecting the news of the death of his grandmother on Monday. Obama told them that whatever happened, the campaign, the costliest in US history at more than $1bn, as well as the longest, had been "extraordinary".

At Obama headquarters in Chicago, a campaign worker described the mood as "optimistically nauseous", reflecting both the party's hopes and the lingering fear after Democratic defeats to Bush in 2000 and 2004.

McCain, who at 72 would be the oldest ever US president, made late dashes to New Mexico and Colorado, both of which were also Republican in 2004, before returning to his native Arizona to vote.

The Republican said he remained in contention - and was hoping for a surprise win. But there was an elegiac quality to his insistence.

"Look, I know I'm still the underdog, I understand that," he said. "You can't imagine, you can't imagine the excitement of an individual to be this close to the most important position in the world, and I'll enjoy it, enjoy it. I'll never forget it as long as I live."

The excitement generated by the campaign translated into high voter turnout, with election officials reporting extraordinary levels of interest - to the extent that authorities in Colorado warned they might not be able to finish the count until today. One figure not to be seen anywhere yesterday was the incumbent George Bush, though he had already voted.

Democrats and Republicans admitted that the long lines were more likely to benefit Obama than McCain. Obama had based his strategy on driving up turnout among young people and African-American voters.

The next president will inherit horrendous economic problems that will limit the scope of his ambitions. Obama, in his final rallies, was already tempering his early promise of change with warnings about how he would have to curb some of his more ambitious plans, trying to lower expectations that he would be able to move quickly on healthcare and education reform.

But there was still palpable excitement in the air, with voters queuing up from 4.30am in Virginia - more than one and a half hours before the opening of polls.

One of those up early to vote, Rodney Spruill, an IT manager who voted in Woodbridge, Virginia, said: "This is something that I think people want to be a part of. They are going to be a part of history - and a part of change."

Election monitors reported sporadic instances of delayed openings of polling stations, voting machine malfunctions, voter confusion and occasional abuse in a number of battleground states including Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

In African-American neighborhoods in Pennsylvania, voters complained of automated robo-calls directing them to the wrong polling stations.

Voters in Jacksonville, Florida, reported bogus text messages directing Obama supporters to avoid long lines by voting today.

But the Obama camp was equally concerned that the enthusiasm that led to such long lines yesterday could put off voters unable or unwilling to wait. "We want to encourage people to stick with it even if the lines are long," David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, told reporters. "That is something that we are really working on."

Though this campaign began in 2007 in many ways as a contest hinged on identity - with Obama as the first viable African-American candidate for president and Hillary Clinton as the first woman - the defining moment of the campaign was the Wall Street meltdown in the middle of last month.

Until that point, Obama and McCain had been in a virtual dead heat in polls but Obama then began to open up a lead that his opponent was unable to close.

In one of America's quirky traditions, Obama won the first round of the election when votes in Dixville Notch, a small community in the north of New Hampshire, announced its results. Obama beat McCain by 15 votes to six, the first time it has gone Democratic since 1968.