Chicagoans jubilant over victory
CHICAGO -- Barack Obama's hometown erupted with joy and pride Tuesday night.
Tens of thousands of people in Grant Park and across the city cheered and wept as the man who came here in 1985 to work in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods was elected the USA's first black president.
"Prayers do come true. This is a great country," said Martin Steele, 64, a janitor on his way to work who paused to watch a TV monitor at NBC studios showing Obama racking up wins in state after state. Steele, who is black, hugged two strangers and said, "We are making history tonight!"
Shirley Herbert, 28, a hair stylist, stood nearby. "Is this real?" she asked. "If it is, this is the most important day of my life."
In Grant Park, John Todd, 33, a lawyer who is black, listened to updates on a radio. He felt "a little disbelief" when it became clear that Obama would win as he recalled the dashed hopes of Democratic wins in 2000 and 2004.
A black man in the White House "is something I thought I'd see maybe as an older man. This is really unbelievable," Todd said. Looking at the crowd around him, he said, "You're seeing America: every age, every race. It's encouraging. Maybe we can."
Jack Kreitinger, 57, an interior designer who is white, said Obama's election means "we're moving to a post-racial society. That's my dream and hope."
Well-behaved throngs watching a giant TV screen cheered as CNN projected Obama the winner in Pennsylvania and a succession of other states.
Messages on T-shirts foretold victory: "I was there when change happened in Grant Park." Another played on "yes, we can" — a refrain from Obama's speeches — and said: "Yes, we did." Buildings on the skyline were lit up to read "Vote 2008."
Part of history
From polling places in black churches to white neighborhoods where lines of voters extended around the block, exhilaration built through the day.
Thomas Molinari, 32, a Web technician who is white, got in line for the rally before noon. He was drawn, he said, by "history, hope and a better tomorrow."
