Technically, the election was still continuing yesterday. North Carolina was finally called for Barack Obama while Missouri seemed certain to be added to John McCain's column

Oliver Burkeman: The celebratory atmosphere in many parts of America was undimmed yesterday, but the president-elect himself seemed keen to make it clear he was getting swiftly to work

Oliver Burkeman: And now it's over. The event that has become a background condition of our lives has finally resulted in a resounding victory for Barack Obama

Oliver Burkeman: And so here we are. In accordance with tradition, voting opened at midnight eastern time, or 5am UK time, in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire today

Oliver Burkeman: As Obama appeared alongside Bruce Springsteen in Cleveland last night, the momentum seemed to be heading in one direction only

Oliver Burkeman: There's a frenzied and frazzled, yet curiously static, feel to the campaign at this point, as John McCain throws everything he can at Barack Obama, and Obama fights to keep his supporters energised

Bad weather on Election Day itself generally harms Democrats more than Republicans, but yesterday the heavy Pennsylvania rain left Barack Obama with the upper hand in the image war

Delivering his "closing argument" in Canton, Ohio yesterday, Barack Obama attempted "an act of political alchemy", fusing the early excitement of his campaign with the grim reality of the financial crisis - all the while avoiding any signs of cockiness or complacency

As this long, long election campaign enters its final full week, John McCain faces an important choice: accept the strong possibility that he's going to lose, and seek to be remembered as having fought to a dignified finish ... or throw everything he can at Obama in an all-out attempt to win

With 12 days to go, there's a distinct sense of the election shifting into its final phase, as the grand rhetoric of the national race gives way to an intense focus on the handful of states that will make the real difference on November 4

Getting elected president of the United States has long been an expensive undertaking, but this year's campaign has broken all records

If the saying that an hour is a long time in politics is true, then news that Obama had cancelled rallies in the Midwest to visit his sick grandmother in Hawaii should have given McCain some serious time to try to inflict damage on his Democratic opponent

The barbs, darts and retorts may come to a halt for a few days this week, as Barack Obama returns to Hawaii to visit his grandmother, who is reported to be seriously ill

A weekend of good news for the Obama campaign reached its high point in the endorsement of Colin Powell, George Bush's former secretary of state

Joe the Plumber enjoyed a brief but blazing turn in the media spotlight yesterday, the day after John McCain used the Ohio worker as a foil for criticism of Barack Obama's tax policy at a debate

It was, as one pundit observed, the most we've heard about plumbers in connection with the presidency since the days of Richard Nixon

As tonight's final presidential debate approaches, it's getting harder and harder to see how John McCain can still win the election

Still trailing in the polls, and with conservative commentators hammering his performance to date, John McCain adopted a radically different approach to his underdog status yesterday: he embraced it