Boos mar John McCain's gracious concession as he hints it's just the beginning for Sarah Palin

John McCain conceded defeat today in a gracious speech urging his supporters to throw their weight behind the new president.

With a teary-eyed Sarah Palin at his side, the 72-year-old Republican leader said Barack Obama had prevailed in what had been a 'long and difficult' contest.

But his supporters were not so generous in defeat. Mr McCain had to stop them from booing Mr Obama's name.



Today's defeat spells the end of Mr McCain's presidential dreams - but is likely to be just the start of his running mate's political ascendancy.

Mrs Palin turned out to be an even bigger draw on the campaign trail than John McCain, the name above hers on the Republican presidential ticket.

Winner and loser: John McCain's presidential dream may be in tatters but Sarah Palin is expected to stage a comeback in 2012

Her inner circle say the mother-of-five is likely to serve out her final two years as Alaska governor and then focus full time on a bid to become America’s first woman president.

Addressing a subdued crowd in his home state of Arizona, Mr McCain said it was natural to feel disappointed, but called on all Americans to come together to bridge their differences.

Pledging to do everything in his power to help the new president in any challenge, Mr McCain said: 'I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together, to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.



'Whatever our differences we are fellow Americans.'

The former Vietnam prisoner of war said Mr Obama's victory was historic and had a particular significance for African Americans.

He said Mr Obama had inspired hope in millions of Americans who had once believed they had little influence in the election of an American president.



This is 'something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving,' he said.

Emotional: Mrs Palin appears to wipe away a tear while her husband Todd looks on

But he insisted America today was 'a world away from the cruel and spiteful bigotry' of a century ago.

'There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United states,' he said.



Offering his condolences to Mr Obama for the death on Sunday of his grandmother, Mr McCain said he regretted that she had not lived to see her grandson achieve such 'a great thing for himself and his country'.



Mr McCain placed the blame for defeat squarely on his own shoulders, prompting chants of 'No!' and 'We want John' from the crowd.



'We fell short. The failure is mine not yours,' he said.

After expressing gratitude to his family and supporters, Mr McCain thanked Mrs Palin, calling the Alaskan governor 'one of the best campaigners I have ever seen'.



He said Mrs Palin, who appeared to be blinking back tears, was also an 'impressive new voice' in the Republican party.



'We can all look forward with great interest to her future service to Alaska, the Republican party and our country.'

Shattered dreams: Mr McCain (centre left) greets running mate Mrs Palin with a kiss at the Arizona election night rally. The pair are flanked by Mr McCain's wife Cindy and Mrs Palin's husband Todd

He continued: 'I don't know what more we could have done to try to win this election.



'I'll leave that to others to determine. Every candidate makes mistakes - I'm sure I've made my share of them - but I won't spend a moment of the future regretting what might have been. This campaign was and will remain the great honour of my life.'

Amid a chorus of boos from the crowd, Mr McCain said he was grateful to Americans for giving him 'a fair hearing in the course of deciding that Senator Obama and my old friend Senator Joe Biden should have the honour of leading us for the next four years.'

He added: 'Today I was candidate for the highest office of the country I love so much and tonight I remain her servant. That is blessing enough for anyone.'

Not all the senator's supporters were willing to accept their candidate's loss. Throughout the crowd, the wails of women could be heard; the victory party soon dissipating in defeat into the night.

"This is horrible," offered one distressed woman. "I'm worried for my country. Watch your wallets."



A companion added: "Watch your guns, too."



At the Biltmore Hotel, the party faithful - who had been intending to eat, drink and party through the night - largely went home early in disappointment. as the bad news unfolded, the feed giving a running update of results was cut.



Grassroots Republican feeling was summed up by 53-year-old Donna Petello, who was wearing a hot pink button that said "Hot Chicks Vote Republican".



She said: "America made a big mistake and they'll surely see that soon. But we can't do anything about it."



At 72, Mr McCain would have been America’s oldest first term president.



His unsuccessful campaign now dooms him to spend his declining years in Washington as a maverick railing against the Obama administration.

But Republican leaders say the election was just the beginning for Sarah Palin.

Despite coming under fire for her inexperience, insiders say she is already being groomed to run for the presidency in 2012.

She even let slip her own ambitions last week, saying in a TV interview that she’s ‘not doing all this for naught'.

And should her presidential ambitions full flat, Hollywood has also come calling.

Several top producers are vying to see if she can turn her popularity among the country’s conservatives into TV ratings.

Now Joe Biden will be filling the vacant VP job in Washington, network executives are sharpening their pitches to try and persuade her to capitalise on her new found celebrity.

Her self-mocking appearance on Saturday Night Live, with lookalike star Tina Fey and actor Alec Baldwin, only heightened Palin fever in Hollywood.

‘Any television person who sees the numbers when she appears on anything would say Sarah Palin would be great,’ said veteran morning-show producer Steve Friedman.

‘The passion she has on each side, love and hate, makes television people say, "Wow, imagine the viewership".‘

According to the Hollywood Reporter, most industry insiders believe an Oprah Winfrey-style daytime talk show will be the probable route for the 44-year-old.

They think her folksy, straight-shooting personality would be an immediate hit with the predominantly female audience.

'I see her less a variety show host like Ellen De Generes and more of a single-topic host like Tyra Banks,’ said one top TV producer.

Cable news is another possibility and perhaps easier to fit in with her day job. Mike Huckerbee, who lost out to John McCain in the Republican primaries, has just begun his own weekly show on Fox News.

One producer has even floated the idea - only half-jokingly - of taking advantage of the curiosity surrounding the entire Palin clan and their Alaska setting and packaging a reality show called ‘The Palins’ as a mixture of The Osbournes and Northern Exposure.