When Barack Obama went over the top in electoral votes, Carol West screamed with joy.

West, who recently moved to Lake Wylie, S.C., called her daughter in Washington, D.C., who had a baby five months ago, and told her, “Our babies can become president!”

For West, Obama’s victory was especially important for young, black Americans to give them a sense of hope.

"It's a black man in a White House," said William Patterson of Clinton, Md., who watched the election at home. Asked if he thought he'd ever live to see a black man become president, the 61-year-old Patterson said, "No. It's something else."
 
In the east, there was partying in the street from Times Square in New York to State College, Pa., the home of Penn State University, to the historically black U Street corridor in northwest Washington, D.C.

Hundreds of residents spilled into the streets near the White House, carrying balloons, banging on drums and chanting "Bush is gone!" Along U Street, once known as America's Black Broadway for its thriving black-owned shops and theaters, men stood on car roofs, waving American flags and Obama posters.

Nearby, at historically black Howard University, hundreds of students erupted in cheers, broke into song and chanted, "Yes, we did!"

"That was fast.  I was thinking it would be Friday before we would know anything," said Sean Gibbs, an Army captain based at Fort Gordon, Ga., who served two tours of duty in Iraq.  "Now I can look my son in the eye and honestly tell him that he can be the President of the United States without it sounding like a prepared statement.  What makes me so proud as an American is that in some other country there's a hater saying to himself, "Just when we thought we had the Americans on the ropes, they go a pull something like this."

"I'm cautious about this, though, Gibbs added. "Look at what's on his plate.  A war on two fronts, an economy that looks like Amy Winehouse, and racism with a blown cover.  The beauty of rock bottom is that there's nowhere to go but up." 

Emmanuel and Brittani Soba, a young couple who voted for the first time Tuesday, had seen Obama just the night before at a rally in Charlotte after standing in the rain for four hours with their three-year-old son and infant daughter. Emmanuel Soba shook Obama’s hand and shot several photos of the Democratic nominee during his speech. He and his wife later took down the sign from the podium and plan to have it framed in their home.

Tuesday night, after attending an election watch party at an Obama campaign office, returned to West’s home in Lake Wylie and videotaped Obama's acceptance speech and called relatives around the country.

Author Patrice Gaines, a contributor to BlackAmericaWeb.com and an Obama volunteer, who attended the campaign watch party said that when Obama cinched the victory, a white female volunteer hugged her and shouted, "'Thank you, Jesus.' I thought  I was in church."

But all the reaction wasn’t universally celebratory.

Even after the election had been declared for Obama, the extremely conservative blog NewsMax.com sent several statements, including comments from strategist Dick Morris suggesting McCain could still win the election.

And while Obama supporters at Grant Park in Chicago applauded politely when he announced he had received a conciliatory concession phone call from Republican opponent John McCain, the GOP contender’s supporters booed when he announced he had called Obama to concede.

Writing for the blog, The Kitchen Table, Princeton University Professor Melissa Harris Lacewell said the key to the election, in her mind was Ohio and she had known since 2004 when .....

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