STUDIO EIGHT ELECTION PARTY!!

[bohonato]

The first polls to close around noon, in some district in New Hampshire with 21 registered voters, went to Obama. It was the first time this district voted Democrat since 1968.

Obama won Vermont, McCain Kentucky.

Michigan polls close in 6 minutes, I'm 95% positive Obama will win here.

[bohonato]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/poli ... .htmlstory

They got a map and everything!

[Lightning Rod]

looks like a done deal now
obama takes ohio

[Dave The Dov]

He's got that and now Pennsylvania!!!! Wisconsin has gone from him as well too!!!!
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Vicodin Rehab Forum

[Lightning Rod]

OK, I cried like a baby when I heard his acceptance speech

God have mercy on him

goodnight

[Doreen Peri]

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

I keep pinching myself...

could this be real?

[mnaz]

Long day. Barely had time to vote. Had dinner with Mom & Dad, and by the time I could sit down and check in, it was all over. I wish him all the best. We're in for a rough ride it seems, but for now.. it feels awfully damn good to me. Some of the rural state numbers look a little scary-- still heavily red. And the popular vote was only 51-48%. I don't know how the Repub. executive candidate could still get so many votes after the current Repub. Administration's selling out of this place (in lock-step so often with the GOP Congress) with their arrogant, corrupt domination of DC over most of the last eight years. McCain was a ninety-percent Bush voter and he never really tried to put any significant distance between himself and most of Bush's policies.... But anyway... maybe we are making some real progress in this here America thing..

[bohonato]

I went to the Kalamazoo Democratic Party election party downtown.
I rode my bike home amidst fireworks, cars driving by honking their horns, and people literally dancing in the streets.
For the first time nobody shouted 'Hey white boy', but greeted me with a smile (at 12:30 at night!).
For the first time I feel like the USA is not an old joke, and our founding fathers are not rolling in their graves.
For the first time I've cried and I did not feel ashamed.

But like the 44th President of the United States said tonight, this is not change, but the chance for change.

(but God, how we proved them all wrong tonight)

[panta rhei]

whow, this guy can speak!

i listened to his speech this morning... aaaaah!

congratulations, america.

[Dave The Dov]

Say did any see what happen with Prop 8 out in California???? Yes it felt good knowing that I'm from Illinois originally and he made it!!!! Great victory speech by the way!!!!
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Mercedes Benz B Class

[Doreen Peri]

I feel like the storm has finally stopped, the sun has broken through the clouds, we've awoken from a long tedious sleep of death, and we are finally wide awake smiling at a new day!

now comes the work .... and the healing

i am grateful!

[Dave The Dov]

Back on track after being derailed for so long!!!!
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Honda CL450

[Arcadia]

great to know that you are happy, grateful & willing to work and to heal!!!!!!!!!!! those are so beautiful news!!!!. I didn´t listen to Obama yet, my best wishes for all of you!!!!!!

[Lightning Rod]

There were many happy tears last night. It was more than just because we chose our first bi-racial president. It was more than just because the baton of leadership has been passed to a new generation. The happy tears were also tears of relief and catharsis. Our nation has at last chosen hope over fear.

When I watched the sea of faces that filled Grant Park last night, the joyous faces with wet cheeks and eyes full of hope, I could not help but remember Grant Park in 1968. Just as last night we had assembled in Chicago to witness and participate in great political catharsis. We called them the Days of Rage.

In 1968 Grant Park was not as inspiring as it was last night. There were thousands of people but not hundreds of thousands. It started out with naive hippie hope, I sat chanting with Allen Ginsburg and there was folk music and incense in the air. Then the smell of incense was replaced by the smell of tear gas and the chanting turned into shouts of alarm.

But last night we saw a different mood. The politics of confrontation had been replaced by the politics of conciliation. The tears that I saw were tears caused by joy not tear gas. I call that an improvement. It brought tears to my eyes.

[izeveryboyin]

Let me start by saying that I have NEVER been prouder of my people and my country than I was last night when those big jumbotron screens in Grant Park flashed an inevitable victory For President-Elect Obama after a surprisingly short night. 333 to 156 as of 12.45am this morning according to the Chicago Tribune. In the park, I was sandwiched between two women, one in her late 60s, the other in her early 70s, and my friend Julian and I felt, as twenty-somethings, so privileged to be in the presence of proud black women who were moved to tears because they waited their whole lives to witness something they never thought possible. The woman in her 70s was named Millie, and when they called the race for Obama, she screamed, and kept shouting "Thank you Lord, Thank you Jesus, I'm so proud" while tears streaming down her face that she didn't bother to wipe away. I had never seen an older woman cry that way before. I come from a long line of strong women. My maternal grandmother never cried in front of me, not once. But this woman was not weak. Millie's chest was full of pride and if she hadn't have been right against my ear, I probably wouldn't have heard her screams of joy. But I didn't need to. The elation was written all over her face. She hugged me and we cried together. This woman that I had known for two hours was sharing an intimate and emotional moment with me because that is what this victory has done for us. It has given neighbors a reason to be friends. It has given strangers a reason to walk past one another slapping five on the streets like teammates after a truly victorious match... because we were! After hearing his energizing speech I went home to my mother and hugged and screamed with her following a million ecstatic phone calls from every family member I know. My brother and I were on the phone until 3 in the morning talking rapturously about the great possibilities this amazing victory will bring. And I felt THAT much closer to everyone. Unified by the idea that we fought so hard for something and actually made it come true! This morning I went out at 4am to meet the newspaper trucks and clutched my victory papers in my arms while shedding more tears, my daughter right next to me, too young to understand that the greatest gift I have ever given her was to have been a part of making sure the first elected president in her lifetime was just like her. A biracial miracle. A beacon of hope and light. A possibility of change. A fresh start. And it feels better than I could ever have imagined.

--k