Focus turns to the battleground states

3.30am: Thousands of supporters of Barack Obama are congregating in Grant Park, Chicago for a victory rally as the Illinois senator leads John McCain by 207 electoral college votes to 135, just 63 short of the winning line with 73 votes expected to go Obama's way when the Pacific states of California, Oregon and Washington are called.

With the size of Obama's majority the main topic of conversation now, all eyes are turing to Indiana, North Carolina, Florida and Virginia. Obama has a near-200,000 majority in Florida with 80 per cent of precints reporting; in Virginia he leads by 50,000 with just 10 per cent of the vote to come in; the vote is too close to call in the other states.

FIRST POSTED NOVEMBER 5, 2008