Bush and Kerry trade early victories

President George Bush and challenger John Kerry traded early victories in a tense and testy US presidential election.

From the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, polls closed in more than two dozen states shortly after midnight GMT but the race was wide open.

It was too close to call in the vital states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida, with a combined 68 electoral college votes, a quarter of the coveted total of 270 needed to win.

It was feared that the result in Florida – if close – may not be known until Thursday when absentee votes are counted.

Bush won West Virginia, a battleground state with five electoral votes and a long history of backing Democrats until the president took it in 2000.

Kerry battled back by winning the statewide vote in Maine, worth three electoral votes.

Maine’s northernmost congressional district, worth a single vote, was too close to call.

Bush was awaiting the nation’s verdict in the White House while Massachusetts senator Kerry had returned to his Boston home.

“I’ve given it my all,” Bush said after voting at a fire station near his ranch in Crawford, Texas, before flying back to Washington.

Kerry got teary-eyed as he thanked his staff for a campaign’s worth of work. ”We made the case for change,” he said .

Alongside the first presidential election since the Sept. 11 attacks, control of Congress was at stake as Bush’s fellow Republicans sought to extend their hold on the House and Senate.

There appeared to be a massive turnout of voters which experts said would favour Kerry.