Barack Obama takes electoral prize of Ohio

2.15 am: Ohio has been called for Barack Obama, essentially handing the presidency to the Democrats. The capture takes him on to 195 electoral college votes, just 75 short of the 270 needed to win the White House.

The Fox News network has also called New Mexico for Obama, turning 25 votes in all from red to blue. However, the other networks have yet to call the state.

With the latest batch of electoral results called, Obama has 119 more electoral votes than John McCain's 76. At 2am Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York and Rhode Island were all projected for the Democrats, with the only positive for John McCain being that he held Georgia, which had been unexpectedly close.

The next batch of results to come in should see battleground states Colorado, Florida, Indiana and North Carolina being called. The word from the McCain camp is that Florida is "lost".

FIRST POSTED NOVEMBER 5, 2008