Obama wins presidential election: media

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama won a grueling two-year struggle for the White House on Tuesday, U.S. media projected, beating Republican John McCain to become the first black president in U.S. history.

Obama, 47, a first-term senator from Illinois, will be sworn in as the 44th U.S. president on January 20, 2009. He will face a crush of immediate challenges, including easing the economic crisis, ending the war in Iraq and striking a compromise on overhauling the health care system.

(Reporting by John Whitesides; editing by Jackie Frank)