There is no set definition for what constitutes a landslide in a US presidential election. But if it looks like one, sounds like one and feels like one, then it probably is one.

So you can add another landslide to the record books.

With only two states left to declare in the US presidential election, the Democrat Barack Obama was leading John McCain by 349 Electoral College votes to 163.

By contrast, George W Bush won the presidency with just 271 electoral votes in 2000 and 286 votes in 2004. It takes 270 votes to pass the winning line.

But in historic terms, Mr Obama still has some way to go.

On his re-election in 1984, Ronald Reagan carried 49 of 50 states to defeat Walter Mondale by 525 votes (a record) to 13. Fortunately for his reputation, Mondale scraped home in his home state of Minnesota and took Washington, DC.

In 1972, Richard Nixon also carried 49 states against the hapless George McGovern, scoring a 520-17 win in the Electoral College. McGovern won in DC and Massachusetts.

Arguably the biggest landslide of all time was won by a Democrat, Franklin D Roosevelt, who rode the success of his New Deal to defeat the Republican Alf Landon by 523 votes to 8. Landon lost his home state of Kansas, only winning in Vermont and Maine.

According to Kathleen Thompson Hill and Gerald N. Hill, in their book “The Facts on File Dictionary of American Politics”, a landslide can be defined as victory “exceeding expectations and being somewhat overwhelming”. In those terms Mr Obama's certainly fits the bill.

After a campaign which rewrote the rules on money-raising - it pulled in some $700 million in two years - and exploited the internet perfectly, Mr Obama became the first Democrat in 32 years to win a majority of the popular vote. Jimmy Carter was the last, although he barely got past 50 per cent in 1976. Despite earlier concerns about his "electability" Mr Obama won an estimated 52.3 per cent of the vote.

Other recognised landslides:

- Franklin Delano Roosevelt over Alf Landon in 1936, 523 to 8 (and in his three other three election victories with electoral votes of 472, 449 and 432)
- Theodore Roosevelt over Alton Parker in 1904, 336-140
- Woodrow Wilson over Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft in 1912, 435-96
- Warren Harding over James Cox in 1920, 404-127
- Herbert Hoover over Alfred Smith in 1928, 444-87
- Lyndon Johnson, who carried the nickname 'Landslide Lyndon' for his 87-vote victory in a Texas Senate race, over Barry Goldwater in 1964, 486-52
- Nixon over McGovern in 1972, 520-17
- Reagan over Mondale in 1984, 525-13

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