Obama beats McCain in New Mexico presidential vote

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama won the presidential vote on Tuesday in New Mexico, defeating John McCain in a swing state that has often voted Democrat in recent years but backed Republican President George W. Bush in 2004, Fox News projected.

Obama led in New Mexico opinion polls before the vote, sometimes in double digits. The victory give him the state's five electoral votes, boosting him toward the 270 needed to win the presidency in the United States' indirect system of voting for a leader.