After months of traveling, campaigning and debating, Sen. Barack Obama of Chicago, Ill., was chosen as the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday night.
Obama has served as a senator for Illinois since 2004. He will be the country's first black president.
"I expected Barack to win," said Mark McShera, editorial chairman of UF College Democrats. "I didn't think it would be such a blowout."
To win, Obama needed to receive 270 electoral votes. He received 337 as of press time, according to 73 percent of precincts accounted for nationwide. He also took the popular vote, with a 51.3 percent win over the 47.5 percent received by Sen. John McCain.
Obama took Florida in a 51 percent win over McCain, with 93 percent of precincts accounted for. Florida, a swing state known more recently for leaning Republican, had 27 electoral votes at stake.
By press time, Alachua County had counted 122,366 votes, though not all early votes had been counted. Obama received 59.94 percent of votes, and 38.54 percent went in support of McCain.
One group of Obama supporters celebrated the news outside Bishop's Tavern, where they held signs and sparklers and cheered at passing cars and chanted "No more Bush!" on the corner of West University Avenue and Main Street.Soon after, police broke up the crowd.
McShera said Obama's win shows the unity of a country brought together through his campaign for the last two years and the strength of the people to change the federal government.
Patrick Kavanaugh, spokesman for the Florida Campaign for Change, said Tuesday night was the culmination of a campaign full of people who love this country and want to see it change.
Kavanaugh said he attributes the campaign's success to its volunteers who worked endlessly for Obama.
"It would never have happened without them," he said.
Pam Carpenter, supervisor of elections for Alachua County, said this year's election was unprecedented in voter turnout.
More than 78 percent of the county's 156,746 registered voters cast votes in the election.
A record-breaking 53,556 voters cast their ballots early.
Political groups on campus, such the UF College Republicans and UF College Democrats, held election-watching parties in Gainesville on Tuesday night.
As polls closed, students involved in UF Students for Barack Obama continued to call potential voters in other time zones to reach last-minute voters across the country. The group's meeting was closed to the media.
Republicans, both young and old, gathered at the Alachua County Republican Executive Committee Headquarters at 1210 N. Main Street to watch the results.
The room was filled with red, white and blue decorations, and the guests munched on salad, pasta and finger food while watching the results on a big-screen TV.
Katherine DeCesare, a McCain volunteer, and her dog, Chloe, both donned McCain-Palin shirts and stickers. DeCesare said she attended the party to support the candidates and the campaign.
She said making phone calls for the campaign and discussing McCain's view for the country was rewarding and made her feel like she was part of something bigger.
"This is my government," she said. "This is my country."
Democrats watched results at Gator's Dockside at 3842 W. Newberry Road.
As the results projected on the screen showed victories in states for Obama, partygoers raised their glasses and cheered loudly for each of the senator's wins.
Randi Cameon, a volunteer for the Obama campaign, said she came to the results part after a long day of canvassing.
"I wanted to be with my people to see the results come in," Cameon said.
She said although she knows it will take a long time to reverse the changes to the U.S. in the last eight years, she knows it can be done.
"If Obama can govern the way he has campaigned, it will be brilliant," she said.
Meanwhile, at the Student Government Elections Bash in the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom, between 550 and 600 students gathered to wait for the results.
As students trickled in starting at 7:30 p.m., they followed ABC news updates on a big screen while ObamaBot jostled around a buffet table with pizza and other snacks.
Student Government President Kevin Reilly welcomed students, acknowledging the "incredible" turnout among young voters.
Nearing full occupancy, students stood or sat around 22 round tables decorated with red and blue balloons from Chomp the Vote, chatting, occasionally erupting into cheers when a candidate was shown on the big screen.
As votes came in, Adam Prom, UF political science junior, said he still had hope McCain would pull through despite the growing gap in Obama's favor.
"We've all known it's a long shot because the country's enamored by Barack Obama," he said.
Political science experts at UF said this election was set apart from previous ones, both in activism and voter participation.
Daniel Smith, an associate professor of political science specializing in political campaigning, called voter turnout monumental. Turnout is expected to be more than 60 percent nationwide, he said.
Michael Heaney, an associate professor at UF, said he thought this year was more clear-cut than recent neck-and-neck elections.
He said both candidates ran disciplined campaigns with no major mistakes committed by either party, which focused the race on the issues.
"This election was not really about the candidate, but more about who does the public trust more on the economy," he said.
As results slowly trickled in, both parties rejoiced and booed at the decided states.
And as polls started showing Obama's lead in the polls, Republicans slowly filed out of the headquarters, though some remained to rejoice in the party's wins in Congressional seats and in McCain's state wins.
At Gator's Dockside, Democrats hugged and clapped and raised their hands in happiness as they chanted "O-ba-ma!"
One man banged on a drum; some attempted phone calls within the noisy crowd; and many cried tears of joy as they embraced loved ones.
McShera said he hoped Obama would start implementing his platform and making changes in the first 100 days of his administration.
Overall, McShera said this win was a huge victory for the party he supports.
"It's a fantastic day to be a Democrat," he said.
The Associated Press and Alligator Writers Lauren Baker and David Low contributed to this report.
