ATLANTA (AP) - Republican John McCain claimed Georgia's 15
electoral votes, beating back Democrat Barack Obama's drive to turn
the GOP stronghold blue.

Tuesday night, NBC News projected McCain would carry Georgia, but it was later realized that approximately two million votes were uncounted, so the Associated Press considered Georgia too close to call. With 99 percent of the votes counted, McCain leads Obama 52 to 47 percent.

The win in Georgia was bittersweet. McCain already has conceded
defeat to Obama, who's now White House bound.

Obama's campaign assembled a strong grassroots operation in
Georgia and was so encouraged by early voting turnout that it
invested in a last-minute advertising blitz in the state.

But an Obama win in Georgia was always an uphill climb. Southerner Bill Clinton was the last Democrat to win the state 16 years ago.

Georgia's powerful Republican turnout operation has trounced the
Democratic opposition in recent years and it delivered again on
Tuesday.

Rich Rogers contributed to this story.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)