WASHINGTON: Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday, sweeping away the final racial barrier in American politics.

The story of Obama’s journey to the peak of American politics is the story of a campaign that was, even in the view of his rivals, almost flawless.

Obama and his aides believed from the beginning that the campaign would have to be nothing less than near perfect if he were to overcome obstacles that sometimes in the drama of the year became easy to forget: That this was a man from a mixed marriage with an unusual name and exotic past.

As Obama reminded Americans on Tuesday night in his victory speech: “I was never the likeliest candidate for the office.”

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,” Obama said in his acceptance speech, to a crowd that stretched far into the night.

The Election Day ended with what, by any definition, was one of the most remarkable contests in American political history. Throughout the United States, people lined up for hours at the polls — many showing up before dawn, to ensure that they would be able to cast their votes.

Sen. John McCain called Obama at 9 p.m. to offer his congratulations. In the call, Obama said he was eager to sit down and talk; in his concession speech, McCain said he was ready to help Obama through difficult times.

President George W. Bush called Obama shortly after 10 p.m., to congratulate him on his victory. “I promise to make this a smooth transition,” the president told Obama, according to a transcript provided by the White House.

For most Americans, the news of Obama’s election came at 11 p.m., when the networks — waiting for the polls to close in California — declared him the victor.

Obama’s win appears likely to be the largest of any Democrat since Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 landslide and makes him the first since Jimmy Carter in 1976 to garner more than 50.1 percent. Like Johnson, he will govern with sizable congressional majorities. Democrats gained seats in both the Senate and Congress.

But with the advantages come hard choices. The president-elect and his expanded Democratic majority now face the task of governing the country through an achingly difficult period: The likelihood of a deep and prolonged recession, and two wars.

Obama must also prove that his charismatic and historic candidacy is not his high point. He must now show that he can deliver on promises of bipartisan reform in spite of his inexperience with coalition-building.

Obama will come into office after an election in which he laid out a number of clear promises: To cut taxes for most Americans, to get the United States out of Iraq in a fast and orderly fashion, and to expand health care. Obama will now face an American people seeking to have hopes met and change confirmed as he addresses the array of problems no incoming president has faced since Franklin D. Roosevelt. And Democrats will expect, soon, his plan for withdrawing one to two brigades a month from Iraq, a major economic package, and a repeal of Bush’s tax cuts.

He will face many hurdles at home. There are others who fear that Obama will be soft in a hard, tough world where what will be required is a clear line in the sand to fanatics, aggressors and bullies. Israelis worry that he will talk to Iran rather than stop it from developing nuclear weapons; Georgians worry that he will not grasp how to handle Russia.

And the world — most countries following the American election with fascination and hope — wants Obama to shift American policy and to project both humility and leadership.

Such different demands reflect the unusual makeup of a man of mixed race and origin whose life and upbringing have touched several continents.

“People feel he is part of them because he is multiracial, multiethnic and multinational,” one voter told this correspondent at a polling station. Others here remain darkly suspicious of what will happen if Obama acts to deliver on some of his more controversial promises.

Commenting on Tuesday’s election, The New York Times wrote: “They (the skeptics) doubted that Obama could be nominated or elected. Now they doubt that he will be able to govern. The skeptics say they believe that American policy is deeply institutionalized and that if Obama tries to shift it, ‘they’ — the media, the corporate robber barons, the hidden powers — will box him in or even kill him.”

Well aware of the difficult transition he faces, given the economic crisis, Obama is expected to begin filling White House jobs as early as this week.

The morning after his election, and in his first major move as president-elect, Obama asked Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a tough-minded tactician with West Wing experience, to serve as his White House chief of staff.

If Emanuel — a member of the House Democratic leadership with ambitions to one day to be House speaker — were to turn it down, former Sen. Tom Daschle would likely get the nod, sources say.

Some Democrats have warned that Emanuel’s take-no-prisoners style could hurt Obama. But the president-elect wants to move fast to push his legislative agenda through the Democratic-controlled Congress — and Emanuel knows the Hill and power politics as well as anyone in town.

On Election night, Obama also led his party to gains in Congress. This puts the Democrats in control of the House, the Senate and the White House for the first time since 1995, when Bill Clinton was in office.

House Democrats are on track to gain at least 17 seats in the next Congress, giving Speaker Nancy Pelosi her party’s most powerful majority since 1993.

Such a margin would arm Democratic President-elect Barack Obama with a formidable tool to push his legislative agenda after he takes office on Jan. 20.

Among Tuesday’s GOP casualties was longtime Rep. Chris Shays of Connecticut, whose reputation for occasionally bucking his party couldn’t keep him from losing to Democrat Jim Hines.

Shays was seeking his 11th full term. His defeat leaves New England without any Republicans in the House.

The House’s first two Muslim members, Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Rep. Andre Carson of Indiana, won their contests Tuesday. Carson has won his first full term; he had succeeded his grandmother, the late Rep. Julia Carson, in a March special election.

In a hotly contested race, Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire was beaten by Jeanne Shaheen, the former governor of the state.

In Pennsylvania, Rep. John Murtha handily defeated Republican challenger William Russell. Republicans had hoped to defeat Murtha after he called his western Pennsylvania district “a racist area” and “redneck”.