Speech by McCain After Victory of Obama

"We have come to an end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly," McCain said.

As he told the crowd that he had just spoken with Obama on the phone, boos echoed around the McCain headquarters.

The Arizona senator raised his hands to calm them. "Please," he said.

McCain called Obama at 11 p.m. when polls closing on the West Coast gave Obama the electoral votes to become the nation's first black president.

Obama thanked McCain for his graciousness and said he had waged a tough race, according to Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs.

The new president-elect told McCain that he was eager to sit down and talk about how the two of them can work together. "I need your help, you're a leader on so many important issues," Obama told McCain.

In his victory speech to the nation, Obama said, "I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. ... I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead."

McCain urged his supporters to "join me in not just congratulating [Obama], but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited."