Preface
We are literally hours away from the conclusion of one of the most important events in our lifetime: the 2008 presidential election. Tens of millions of Americans will have voted for the new leader of the free world. History will be made with either the first African American president or the first female vice president. Both are major steps in our country's history.

Think about how far we have come as a people. In the 1700s when they were just starting to create our grand country, our ancestors laid the groundwork for such amazing things to happen. Thomas Jefferson wrote that every person was allowed the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

So I will be live-blogging every twist and turn in this Election Night, including the end of the evening when I will be attending the Barack Obama rally in Chicago, where Obama will greet the world and we will know if he has won this historic election for the president of the United States.

8:30 p.m.
So far, so good. Barack Obama is leading slightly, but I'm not convinced with this early surge. He has won only one state that was not in John Kerry's column in 2004. I'm happy but not overjoyed. There is still more to wait and see how this plays out. Now, like Mr. Butler says during Quiz Bowl, it's still anybody's game.

8:35 p.m.
How fast things change! Obama is the presumptive winner in Ohio. No Republican has ever won the presidency without winning Ohio. Math teachers at Uni would still say it is mathematically possible, but something out of the ordinary would have to happen.

9:10 p.m.
Obama has been able to take Iowa. Couple this with an almost automatic win in California, and McCain would have to win every other state left in the election. Still possible, but the chance is extremely slim. Looking like an Obama presidency is on the way. *Knock on wood*

9:46 p.m.
Virginia is now being declared in the Obama column. McCain to address his supporters at the Arizona Biltmore at the top of the hour.

9:55 p.m.
Historical note: Virginia has not gone for a Democrat since 1964. It was after that election that President Lyndon Johnson engineered the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Also interesting that Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy. Today Virginia is in part responsible for electing the first African American president of the United States.

10 p.m.
Florida just called for Obama! A roar goes up from the crowd at Grant Park, site of the Obama rally in Chicago. Another Southern state in Barack Obama's column.

10:04 p.m.
It's one for the history books! Barack Obama will be our 44th President! California, Washington, Hawaii have moved for Obama!

10:08 p.m.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. must be smiling down on us — America has selected a president based on the content of his character. A skinny kid with a funny name and a dark complexion, with a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, grew up to inspire a generation. Yes, Virginia, anyone in America can grow up to be president.

10:13 p.m.
It's New Year's in Grant Park. Strangers are embracing, crying, dancing, and exchanging high fives and fist bumps. Young and old, black, white, Asian, and Latino are celebrating together.

10:19 p.m.
Ohio and Colorado, two other swing states previously won by George W. Bush, have been called for Obama. He will have more than 330 electoral votes.

10:21 p.m.
John McCain delivers his concession from Phoenix pledging to assist the president-elect and to come together in a spirit of "goodwill and earnest effort" to build "a stronger and better country" for future generations. "This campaign has been the great honor of my life," said McCain. "God speed to the man who has been my former opponent and who will be our president."

10:31 p.m.
Time to celebrate. I'm headed across the street to Grant Park from my hotel room at the Chicago Hilton on South Michigan to join the 100,000-plus. God bless America!

11:55 p.m.
What a surreal moment. It was one of the most moving moments I've been a part of. You know that feeling when you see something great, like a movie, and there is a truly amazing moment that makes chills run down your body? Now have that feeling keep on going. Obama's victory speech had the crowd on its feet and cheering, "YES WE CAN."

What has happened here tonight will be written about in the history textbooks of our children. Only in America could something like this happen. We have come so far, but just as President-elect Obama said: "This does not end tonight. So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder. "