Obama wins Pennsylania, takes early lead with east coast victories

The Democratic nominee has also taken the early lead over John McCain overall as states reported their election returns Tuesday evening, scoring a slew of victories in reliable East Coast states, Fox news online reported.

Obama has won Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware, Vermont and the District of Columbia. He also won all four electoral votes in Maine and scored a victory in his home state of Illinois.

McCain has won Georgia, as well as South Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia and Kentucky.

Both campaigns are closely watching returns in the valuable battlegrounds of Florida, Ohio and Missouri, where polls have closed but the contests were too close to call.

Obama appears to have a lead in Virginia and Indiana, two Republican states Obama is hoping to turn blue this year. Those races are too early to call.

Early voters trended toward Obama in Ohio and North Carolina, but as of Tuesday evening it was unclear whether he earned enough votes on Election Day to carry the states.

The Democratic nominee has amassed 103 electoral votes to McCain's 54, with voters continuing to cast their ballots in dozens of others states after a frenzied day of campaigning that brought the historic and sprawling presidential race to a close.

Pennsylvania, with its 21 electoral votes, was one of the few states that voted Democratic in the 2004 presidential election that McCain was actively pursuing. The other, New Hampshire, he also lost.

McCain's narrow path to victory now rests heavily on Ohio and Florida, and several states Bush won in 2004 that Obama is contesting.

Both candidates took their campaigns well into Election Day, as each battled for votes at the 11th hour.

McCain, facing an uphill road to attaining the 270 electoral votes needed to win, first flew into Colorado for his final rally. Then he visited dozens of volunteers at a New Mexico phone bank, before finally heading home to Phoenix, Ariz., to watch returns. 

On his campaign plane to Phoenix, Ariz., McCain told reporters he was "feeling confident."