McCain Concedes Graciously, Bush Wishes Obama Well

By: Beth Fouhy

Flanked by wife Cindy and running-mate Sarah Palin, McCain spoke to supporters outside the Arizona Biltmore Hotel shortly after 11 p.m. EST Tuesday, saying the "American people have spoken and they have spoken clearly."

He conceded the contest as polls closed on the West Coast, adding a string of states to Obama's electoral vote tally and sealing the Illinois senator's victory.

McCain stressed the historic nature of the election, noting that an invitation to Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House by Theodore Roosevelt had been viewed as an insult in some quarters.

"Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and for his country," McCain said.

Although McCain had criticized Obama during the hard-fought campaign as too inexperienced to be president, the Arizona senator said that "in a contest as long and as difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance.

"But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving."

McCain Concedes Graciously, Bush Wishes Obama Well....

Who's the Elitist Now? Barack Obama Rips Into John McCain for Not Knowing How Many Homes He Owns

By: Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press

WASHINGTON - John McCain may have created his own housing crisis. Hours after a report that the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting didn't know how many homes he and his multimillionaire wife own, Democratic rival Barack Obama launched a national TV ad and a series of campaign stops aimed at portraying McCain as wealthy and out of touch.

With the economy the top issue in the race, Obama sought to turn McCain's gaffe into one of those symbolic moments that stick in voters' minds.

Think John Kerry sailboarding or the first President Bush wowed by a grocery store checkout scanner, Michael Dukakis riding in a tank or Gerald Ford eating a tamale with the husk still on.

"I think -- I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico when asked Wednesday how many houses he owns. "It's condominiums where -- I'll have them get to you."

Later, the McCain campaign told Politico that McCain and his wife, Cindy, have at least four in three states -- Arizona, California and Virginia.

Who's the Elitist Now?....