In Congress, a Democratic wave

WASHINGTON -- America's election of an African American as president wasn't the only breakthrough Tuesday night.

By defeating John McCain in such reliably Republican states as Colorado and Virginia — capital of the Confederacy and a state that hasn't backed a Democrat for president in four decades — Barack Obama reshaped the electoral map that has defined American politics for a generation.

Surveys of voters as they left polling places nationwide also showed shifts in allegiances among young people, Hispanics, upscale voters and others that could reverberate through future elections.

Obama's victory and Democratic gains in the House and Senate led Democrats to their strongest governing position since the post-Watergate election in 1976. Among the Republicans who lost re-election bids were North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole and New Hampshire Sen. John Sununu, members of two of the GOP's signature families.

Some analysts see a turning point in American politics like what occurred in 1980, when Republican Ronald Reagan's victory over President Carter set the nation on a more conservative course for the past quarter-century.

The analysts caution, however, that the ability of a new president and his party to deliver on campaign promises to calm the roiling economy, withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and expand health care coverage would determine whether the 2008 election turns out to be a long-term realignment for Democrats or a one-time repudiation of an unpopular Republican president at a time many Americans are unnerved by economic turmoil.

Nearly two-thirds of those polled after they cast their ballots called the economy the most important issue facing the country — the most single-minded electorate in two decades of exit polling.

"President Bush has given us a Hoover moment," says Democratic strategist Al From, likening the situation to Franklin Roosevelt's victory over Herbert Hoover in 1932 that ushered in a 20-year hold on the White House for Democrats.

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"A lot of people have given Democrats a chance to prove we can govern," From says, "and the test for Obama is whether he can perform in office."

Republican strategist Mark McKinnon, one of Bush's top advisers in his presidential campaigns, calls this "a seminal election that people will look back at as a real turning point in American politics."

Election Day followed a campaign laced with breakthroughs: It was the longest presidential campaign ever — Tom Vilsack, then governor of Iowa, opened the season by launching his bid for the Democratic nomination almost two years ago — and the most wide open since 1928.

It was the most expensive election in U.S. history — $2.4 billion was raised and spent on the presidential campaign — and a campaign that tapped emerging technology, from online fundraising to Twitter alerts.

Most significantly, it ended by sending the first African American in history to the White House. Obama's election as president, 143 years after the United States abolished slavery, fueled a jump in black participation and stood as a transformational moment in the nation's racial history.