The news is bleak for John McCain.

Under the system handed down by the wary framers of America's constitution, the president is not elected directly, but by an electoral college in which each state casts a number of votes roughly proportional to its population. With two tiny exceptions (see article), states cast their votes in a block for whichever candidate wins the most votes there.

This means the overall popular vote is much less important than the vote in a dozen or so states where the race is particularly close. That is why America's three largest states—California, New York and Texas—have been once again irrelevant to this presidential election.