Obama wins New Hampshire, Maine presidential voting

Washington: Barack Obama won the presidential vote in New Hampshire on Tuesday, defeating Republican John McCain in a Democratic-leaning state where the Arizona senator hoped his independent image would deliver an upset, U.S. media projected.

Obama also triumphed over McCain in Maine, a swing state that has backed candidates from both parties but has supported Democrats in recent years, U.S. media projected. Obama had led in opinion polls before the vote.

Obama, an Illinois senator, also had led the public opinion polls in New Hampshire before the vote. But McCain won the Republican primary in the state in January and had hoped for another victory against Obama, who lost his New Hampshire primary contest to Hillary Clinton.

The victories gave Obama New Hampshire’s four electoral votes.

The projection meant Obama would win at least three of the four electoral votes in Maine, one of only two states with a proportional system of distributing the votes.

A candidate needs at least 270 electoral votes to win the presidency in the United States indirect system of choosing a president.

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