There was just one word on the home page of the Barack Obama website yesterday: Change. With only hours to go, the Democrats were advertising Change We Need rallies and Change the World T-shirts. The presidential candidate's slogan is: "Change we can believe in" - "I'm asking you to believe not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington, I'm asking you to believe in yours," says the man who would be commander in chief.

If the polls are right and Mr Obama is indeed declared the first black president of the United States early tomorrow morning nobody can be in any doubt that America has decided it is time for a change.