President Obama says ''Yes We Can..."

Great acceptance speech from President Elect Barack Obama after his landslide win evoking memories of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" oration.

I found it interesting that Obama used the story of a 106-year-old woman who voted in this election amd questioned what might be possible in the next 106 years...

Here in Miami on Sunday, among the lines in the pouring rain waiting to vote was a 102-year-old woman determined to vote for the first time.

Seniors for Obama!

The election results in Florida were wafer-close for several hours but the State was finally called for Obama.

I was privileged to be invited to the Obama Victory Party in Miami Beach to watch the results come in - and celebrate. The atmosphere was electric and highly emotional, with activists screaming with delight as updates from each state were reporterd - results augmented by frequent announcements from the stage by enthusiatic local campaigners about Florida victory followed by Florida victory.

Miami polls closed at 7pm - three hours earlier than in British General Elections - and it was clear early on that this was indeed going to be the historic night on a scale I never dream possible: yes, bigger even than John Fitzgerald Kennedy's win almost half a century ago, and bigger than the more recent Clinton push.

Astonishing that John McCain knew he had lost early and made his speech accepting defeat by 11.30pm.

It was a gracious loser's speech offering congratulations to President Obama, which attracted polite applause as the footage was relayed live to massive screens on either side of the stars and stripes backdrop to a partisan Democrat audience in Miami.

President Obama was able to start his acceptance speech before midnight - almost, if not entirely without precedent.

He paid tribute to the service to country by his opponent, who was tortured as a prisoner in the Vietnam War.

The Obama effect has rocked America and created a movement, rather than simply winning an election.

Expectations and hope for improvements are massive.

So. After the most costly, lengthy, most gruelling campaign which tested the candidates to the limit, America has chosen it's Leader.

Tomorrow the real work starts.

Live from the White House...

Quick blog from the White House...No, not the one in Washington, but Sky TV's US Election set in Miami, where a few colleagues are doing a quick interview.

Very grand on the waterfront, and a huge contrast from the deprivation of just a few blocks away from the skyscrapers and the glamour of Miami Beach.

I've knocked a lot of doors over the years, but never seen poverty like I saw this morning in an African-American area called Overtown, Miami.

Tiny one room dark apartments of the like I've never seen anywhere in Britain.

Quite shocking.

In Britain, we take the NHS for granted. The people I met this morning have no health care - which is why Barack Obama wants health care for all Americans - a plan opposed by the Republicans who try to use the policy to demonstrated that Obama is really a 'socialist'!!

Sunday, on the last day of early voting, we watched people wait patiently in line and in torrential rain for eight hours in Liberty City, Miami, and helped hand out water and cookies.

What was amazing was that they stood in line for eight hours, determined to exercise their democratic right.

While it was good to see the huge turnout, voting in a democracy should surely not be made so difficult.

Only a few hours before we know whether it will be McCain or Obama in the White House...

Whoever wins, there is a huge expectation of delivery.

More later hopefully...

Champ by a whisker...and Chump on a turkey-shoot

Totally missed Lewis Hamilton's historic victory in becoming the youngest ever world motor racing champion at the age of just 23 - in only his second F1 season...

No-one seemed very bothered about motor racing here in Little Haiti, Miami: despite flicking the channels on the telly on a mini-bus on which we were based for the day, I couldn't find a trace of anything remotely F1.

Plenty of Sunday programmes hosted by cammed-up geeks demonstrating how to gun down turkeys with high-powered rifles and even one showing how to sit in a tree and wait for a passing deer to kill.

Which reminds me of my favourite election button badge to date, which takes a pop at gun-toting Sarah Palin.

It's picture of a moose with the words: Alaskan Wildlife for Obama.

Quality.

Apart from that, an incredible day on the campaign trail...of which more when I've caught up on a few zeds...