In the news: November 6 2008

Hispanics, young voters, women help Obama win

By DEBORAH BAKER
Associated Press Writer
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

Barack Obama drew on support from Hispanics, young voters and women to score victories in New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado - three Western states that voted for President Bush in 2004.
Obama also contributed to an Election Day sweep in New Mexico that put the state's entire congressional delegation in Democratic hands for the first time in 40 years.
According to exit polling conducted for The Associated Press, Obama performed better among New Mexico Hispanics than John Kerry did four years ago when he narrowly lost the state to President Bush.
"We don't need another Bush in there," said John Marquez, 44, an Albuquerque Democrat who supported Obama. "We need to get the Republicans out. They're driving us under. We've got to put the country back in order."
About seven in 10 Hispanics in New Mexico favored Obama, despite John McCain's aggressive targeting of them with advertising in Spanish and appeals that focused on his record in the military.
Geography also was key. Obama picked up a majority of voters in the Albuquerque area, the state's population center, and claimed more than 2-1 support in the traditionally Democratic northern half of the state.
The economy dominated the concerns of New Mexicans. Slightly more than half of all New Mexico voters said the economy was the most important issue facing the nation. Of those, nearly three-fifths favored Obama.
Obama engineered a similar victory in Nevada, where he won overwhelming support from minority voters.
Roughly three-quarters of Hispanics and more than nine in 10 blacks in Nevada voted for Obama, and the groups combined represented about one quarter of the total vote, exit polls said.
More than half of Nevada women backed Obama, while men supported McCain and Obama about evenly, the poll said.
In Colorado, where a third of registered voters are listed as independent, Obama led among unaffiliated voters. He also did well among women, moderates, Hispanics and people seeking change, according to an Associated Press poll of voters over the past week.
In New Mexico, new voters - nearly three-quarters of them under 30 - flocked to Obama. They backed him almost 3-1 over McCain. About one in eight voters said this was the first year they had cast a ballot. A majority of new voters were Hispanic.
Obama also took the middle political ground. He led McCain by 15 percentage points among independents; they accounted for more than a quarter of voters. Nearly three-fifths of moderates backed Obama.
In the New Mexico congressional delegation, all three incumbents - Republicans Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce and Democrat Tom Udall - gave up their seats to run for the Senate post being vacated by retiring Republican Pete Domenici.
On Tuesday, that turned into a windfall for Democrats. Udall beat Pearce, who had defeated Wilson in the June GOP primary.
And Pearce and Wilson's open seats in the House went to Democrats: Martin Heinrich, a former Albuquerque city councilman, defeated GOP candidate Darren White, a county sheriff. And oilman Harry Teague, another Democrat, beat GOP businessman Ed Tinsley.
Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state and dominate in statewide offices and the Legislature. But it's different in federal races, where moderate-to-conservative Democrats - especially those in rural areas - often tilt to Republican candidates.
In 2000, Democrat Al Gore won the state by just 366 votes. In 2004, New Mexico went for Bush by fewer than 6,000 votes, making it one of only two states that shifted from blue to red that year.

Why do you think Obama won this election? What do you think is the big difference, that made Obama more popular than McCain? What do you think will be the biggest difference after this election? Why do you think that Omaba got so much support from Hispanics, young voters and women?