Richmond students respond to Obama's victory

* Photo Gallery: Election Day at the University of Richmond

More than 150 elated students in Tyler Haynes Commons embraced, shouted and cried at 11 p.m., when the polls closed on the West Coast and TV networks announced that Barack Obama would be the 44th president of the United States, the first black American to win the office.

"This is now a country where you really can be anything, there are no more excuses," said Dwayne Foster, a freshman. "[The election] wasn't even close. It was decisive. He won fair and square."

Obama, who had been running what had been described as a "post-racial" campaign, recognized the historical significance of his election just 48 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which outlawed attempts to obstruct people from voting.

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible...," Obama said, "tonight is your answer."

Obama narrowly won Virginia's 13 electoral votes in a state that hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Obama captured 1,796,756 votes -- 51.7 percent of the total -- while McCain took 1,641,704 votes, about 47.2 percent, according to Virginia's State Board of Elections. Voter turnout was tremendously high in Virginia, with 70 percent of active voters casting ballots.

Richmond City overwhelmingly favored Obama, who garnered nearly 80 percent of the city's vote with all precincts reporting. McCain had less than 20 percent. At the Westhampton Baptist Church -- the precinct where most University of Richmond students voting in Richmond cast ballots -- the race was much closer. Obama won 51.8 percent of the vote.

A recent Collegian poll showed Obama had a significant lead over McCain among Richmond students, 55 percent to 28 percent, with 14 percent undecided.

For his acceptance speech, Obama appeared before a crowd of 125,000 in Grant Park, Chicago, shortly after Sen. John McCain conceded in Arizona. Americans watching Tuesday night saw state after state won by Bush in 2004 now turn blue -- among them Virginia, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.

Many students gathered in the Commons to watch returns, but many others kept up from apartments and residence halls. The Commons crowd -- mostly Obama supporters -- began watching election coverage at 7 p.m. when the first polls closed, anxiously sipping on sodas and stirring sugar in large cups of coffee.

Results during the first hour were much the same as they had been during the 2004 presidential election. But the evening began tilting toward Obama when he won Pennsylvania, despite McCain's fevered efforts to win the state.

Shortly after Pennsylvania was called, Obama won Ohio -- a state no Republican has ever won the White House without.

When the election was called for Obama, the room erupted in jubilation. By this time, most McCain supporters had left the Commons. Obama supporters hugged and ran around the room screaming, while others immediately opened up cell phones to call or text friends. A few had tears streaming down their faces. Andy Gurka, area coordinator for the University Forest Apartments, said he had never seen such an outpouring of emotion from Richmond students.

"To say that I participated in an election where we got our first black president is something I'm happy to be a part of," sophomore Amy Hennigner said.

Obama's election marked the end of a two-year campaigning crusade for Darius Rasheed Nazeri, president of University of Richmond Students for Barack Obama.

During the 21-month campaign, Nazeri sent Facebook messages, knocked on doors, organized meetings, started Web sites and registered voters on behalf of Obama's campaign.

"I'm speechless," Nazeri said. "I'm really proud to have worked so hard on this campaign.

"I was not even born in this country. I was born in Afghanistan during the Communist invasion. For me and my family to have come so far is incredible. To cast my first vote in a democratic election was the greatest honor of my life."

Nazeri credited youth supporters for the Virginia victory, saying the young grassroots movement had "made history during the election."

The exit polling data may corroborate his assertions. In Virginia, according to MSNBC, the 18-29 voter block broke heavily for Obama -- 60 percent to 39 percent -- and made up 12 percent of the electorate. That was 6 points more than John Kerry garnered in 2004.

The enthusiasm on campus for Obama was evident Tuesday night and Wednesday morning after the Commons viewing party. Almost two hours after the election was called for Obama, students chanted "Obama! Obama!" as they filtered back into their residence halls.

At Virginia Commonwealth University downtown, an impromptu victory parade broke out in front of Johnson Residence Hall on Laurel Street. According to a police report, about 2,000 students marched to the Siegel Center on Broad Street, then turned east and marched toward the Virginia State Capitol. On the way, the crowd expanded to about 5,000 people, and police stopped exuberant marchers from climbing on walls and cars, but made no arrests.

Junior Tim Patterson, a conservative and McCain supporter, blamed recent economic failures and what he said were a lack of strong GOP policy convictions for the loss.

"I don't think the Republicans really know what their values are -- conservative economically, socially and fiscally," he said. "A lot of Republicans are big spenders."

McCain had been criticized widely for saying the fundamentals of the economy were strong during a time when the financial system appeared to imploding. Many pundits pointed to that statement as the turning point in the election.

But senior James Starr, a McCain supporter, said McCain's comment had been taken out of context.

"People have quoted McCain saying, 'The fundamentals of our economy are strong,'" he said, "but McCain's plan has been misunderstood. In the bailout plan, he specifically addressed helping people with bad mortgages, making sure they stayed in their homes. I don't think Obama specifically addressed that."

During the past few months, about 550 Richmond students registered to vote in Virginia. At Westhampton Baptist Church on Three Chopt Road, students flooded the polls starting at 6 a.m.

Poll workers noted that there was an unusually high turnout, especially among students.

"This is usually a pretty laid-back job," said Rich Stone, the chief polling officer at Westhampton Baptist Church. "I have not been off my feet all day. At 6 a.m. there was a line going back two blocks. It looked like a mosh pit."

Stone estimated that about one in four voters at the precinct were students, saying they were respectful and cooperative and he enjoyed having them at his polling station.

Ralph White, a long-time poll volunteer, said he had been thrilled to see so many young voters lining up at the polls.

"I care about democracy," White said. "That's why I do this. Isn't it wonderful that, at long last, so many students are participating in our democracy."

In the Richmond mayoral race, Dwight Jones defeated his main rival, City Council President Bill Pantele. In the race for U.S. Senate in Virginia, former Gov. Mark Warner soundly defeated Republican Jim Gilmore, delivering the second U.S. Senate seat in Virginia to the Democrats. Democratic U.S. Sen. Jim Webb defeated George Allen in 2006 to claim the other senate seat.

Contact staff writer David Larter at david.larter@richmond.edu