After last night's historic election of Barack Obama as president of the United States, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney sums it up well, saying:

The political pendulum is swinging back toward sanity, after many months of work by people of all ages, races, stations and faiths hungry for change.

Obama's victory was sealed when West Coast polls closed last night, and we await the final calls in North Carolina and Missouri, where the race between Obama and Sen. John McCain remains too close to call. As of 11 a.m., Obama has 349 electoral votes in his column and McCain 163.

The popular vote total tally stands at Obama, with 62.4 million (52 percent) and McCain, 55.4 million (46 percent).

Several important congressional races remain too close call. Working families picked up five Senate seats last night, but the races in Alaska, Georgia and Oregon still remain too close to call.