Where were YOU at 11:00 PM (EST) one week ago?

[Bicoastal]

None of us, particularly those of my generation, will forget the moment Barack Obama became President Elect. Share your stories here!

I was with friends in Brooklyn, drinking a bit and watching the returns. In the early hours, I was nervous as hell, due to the fact that many swing states seemed to have Obama down with the first 1-10% of the vote projected. Virginia in particular seemed like it was going in the wrong direction. We actually shut off the coverage for awhile and watched a little regular world TV, though my friends noted I seemed to be looking right past the screen. When we switched back, things were going a little better, but none of the states called were particularly unexpected.

Then, at around this time of night, two mighty hammer-strikes: Pennsylvania and Ohio. My mother in California called me before each one--she was watching PBS, and they were calling before CNN. Travis started celebrating right then and there. I remained a concern troll up until the end, wondering if somehow, some way, either Washington or Oregon would let us down. However, to a man, we all knew what was coming at 11...

And BOOM, it happened. As if on cue, my best friend's GOP roommate stormed out of his room and started cussing all us "liberals" out--but as we shouted him down, he retreated back into his lair, I noticed tears under his eyes. Josh, too, wept--when Obama gave his victory speech in Chicago. Jeremiah, who is black, was delirious happy and could not say anything intelligible for the rest of the evening. I vowed to walk back to my apartment through Park Slope, where celebrations were audibly taking place, but later decided against it, since it was about half a mile and I was by this point rather intoxicated. A brief subway ride, and I was back in my room, at my computer, posting a "We are the Champions" YouTube video on DU. And then I passed out.

Where were you? Who were you with? And how did you celebrate?

[msongs]

1. doing the 10 second CNN countdown to west coast electorals coming and Obama winning..

with about 300 people in the local dems HQ. was a good time for all

Msongs

[Erin Elizabeth]

2. At Friendship West Baptist Church

celebrating with a few thousand of my friends, LOL. Screaming, laughing, crying, thanking God, hugging, yelling.

[liberalmuse]

3. I was with my sister and nephew.

My daughter opted to celebrate at The Showbox in downtown Seattle, which spilled out into the streets and ended up in Capitol Hill. This old bat jumped up and down and screamed for about 5 minutes. Then I went out on the balcony and yelled, 'PRESIDENT OBAMA!!!', which was met with shouts of joy and fireworks. What a glorious night! I'll never forget it. I'll never forget waiting for Virginia to be called on MSNBC and then having my sister say, 'WHAT???'. 'Wait! Shhhhhhh! What did I just hear???' They had declared Barack Obama the winner seconds after the Western Polls closed. Pandamonium erupts.

[Lisa0825]

4. I was at a hospitality sweet for a Harris County (TX) candidate

watching the returns on his hotel room TV along with about 30 others. The watch party in the main ballroom was packed like sardines, so as much as I was happy about the turnout, I left to the smaller party so I could breathe and take it all in!

I think all of us had tears in our eyes. I left before Barack's acceptance speech, as I was tired and had over an hour's drive home, but watched it once I got here, curled up in bed with my kitties, and the ability to rewind and rewatch my favorite parts over and over again. My favorite part was waking up the next day and realizing I hadn't dreamed it.

[tblue]

5. At the local Democratic office.

I was working at the front desk, and I had told everyone not to tell me any news about any results until a winner was announced. I did not want to relive 2000 and 2004, when it looked like we had won only to have victory snatched away. We are in CA so both our office and all the state polls closed at 8pm (11EST). It wasn't until then that I went into the party room (with the TV) and joined about 150 other volunteers, grabbed a glass of wine in one hand and champagne in the other, and saw the electoral count at 207, then immediately MSNBC pronounced the winner. It was over. I screamed and bawled like a baby. We all did.

[Berry Cool]

6. Here in front of my computer, alone, when Keith called it.

I was already thrilled because Ohio was the first red state to turn blue, but hesitated to pop my champagne until I knew it was over and done.

It popped, all right. Got a lot of it on the floor and my glasses, but there was still plenty to drink. Finished off the whole bottle solo...and no sickness afterward and no hangover.

[gblady]

11. me, too

here alone, crying, laughing, dancing a jig...
reading DU, watching msnbc, eating some celebratory...
White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Ice Cream
drenched in Bailey's Irish Creme...

hard to believe it's been a week already...
my, how time flies!!!

[Sophree]

32. I was in my room and on DU, too.

Then went down to high-five my roommates- both first-time voters- for Obama.

One of the happiest moments in a long time. It's still sinking in...

[MsTryska]

7. I was at work watching the results happen

in wonder with my coworkers.


When it was announced everyone in the office cheered and clapped.

[mrs_p]

8. 20 people, 5 dogs, 3 cats

running around my little apartment. lots of food, friends, libations. we were hugging and kissing each other - so much happiness. champaign was served and then we all watched our president elect take stage and reminded us that yes, we can and yes, we did.

:bounce:

[sampsonblk]

9. Out buying a beer. Heard the funniest thing too!

After I saw Obama well into the 200s, with the west coast states not counted yet, I knew it was over. So ran out to get the beer.

At the store, there was a poor fool at the counter trying in vain to convince the Pakistani cashier that McCain still had a chance. The cashier pulled out a calculator to inject some reality into their conversation.

Then the light bulb came on. They both turned to me withan arm full of beer, and the cashier said to me "Wait. Why are you buying beer?" All I could do was smile! That was my moment baby!

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

10. At a street festival in Dallas's Bishop Arts District

With Mr. DTBK and fellow Irving for Obama volunteers. I will never forget that evening if I live to be 100!

[rainbow4321]

12. Here on DU, had downed my 2nd marguarita and on my upteenth cigarette for the night

Had MSNBC streaming live on the 'puter and CNN on in the other room. Saw it announced on the computer at 10 pm CST....

Broke open some champagne after the announcement, was REALLY hungry since I skipped dinner and had went right to watching the results (and I had no plans on going to bed anytime soon), ordered pizza, decorated my car with "President Obama" on the back and side windows with shoe polish so I could drive around the Mcmansionville, heavily repuke part of town the next day!
Daughter got home and we watched his speech together. Stayed up til 3:30 am. Got woken up by a friend's text message at 5:30 am (!!!) to go over his house and celebrate with him and another friend..but after the marguaritas, champagne, pizza, cigarettes, and only 2 hours of sleep my stomach and I could NOT bring myself to go over there. So we texted nonstop for a while. Woke up a few hours later and UNlike 2000/2004 where I didn't watch the news for weeks, I turned ON the TV and then got back on DU. :)

[ebdarcy]

13. I watched Jon Stewart call it on Comedy Central.

It was extremely satisfying. For a long time, Jon seemed to be the only person on TV who called bullshit on the bush administration. I admire him a lot, and it was a great moment.

[mucifer]

14. Grant Park, Chicago!!! With my coworker screaming and jumping around like a loon.

:)

[geekgrrl]

15. Watching KO call it, crying, drinking gin, and then going outside to dance with the neighbors! nt

[regnaD kciN]

16. At the election party...

...for the Washington 5th Legislative District Democrats, watching MSNBC on a big screen. :party:

[firedupdem]

17. Home with my husband and son and my dog rocco. We cried,

my son began texting all his friends. I called my older son who is away at Tuskegee University and I couldn't hear him from all the kids yelling, and laughing, and honking their horns. I called my mother in law...she was crying..it was her b'day and she said it was the best one she'd ever had. What a night! I couldn't sleep that night. All I could think about was how much I wished my parents were still alive to share this moment.

[Undercurrent]

18. I was alone and broke into in tears as the news was broadcast, then

I blasted across the lawn to my elderly dad's house, and we hugged, whooped and hollered, danced and cried. We then opened a couple of beers, watched TV and talked (and cried some more). I came back home (and cried some more). My sister called from Seattle, and said she and her hubby had gone out in the yard in their richy rich neighborhood to do some whooping and hollering of their own, and she had been crying (we cried some more together). She said her whole neighborhood was going crazy -- people were in the street, on their lawns, honking horns, yelling and some were shooting fire works off over the lake.

I will never forget that day. It's embedded deep in my psyche for all of my life. I've never experienced a spontaneous global outburst of joy like this in my 60 years.

[tabbycat31]

19. at a hotel in PA

watching the election returns with most of the area Democrats (I was with a group who came over from NJ).

I knew we had this thing in the bag as soon as they called Ohio, and it was a matter of waiting for the West Coast results to come in. I hugged strangers, and I cried with tears of joy knowing that we did it. My smile stretched from Bradley Beach to California that day, and it still does.

I knew that the era of the Bushies was over.

[Patsy Stone]

20. Sitting on the couch

with my husband, and I cried.

[Condem]

21. Watching MSNBC with my wife & 17 cats.

One has since passed on. My oldest cat.

[LittleClarkie]

22. Getting my ears blasted by cheers at a downtown victory party

Geez they were loud

[Dem2theMax]

23. I was on Obama's web site and I was watching the live feed from there.

Then I ran to the TV to watch Keith Olbermann tell me that I had a new President! :) :) :)

My 88 and 90 year old parents were with me. First words out of my Dad's mouth? Pop the cork! :) :) :)
And we did. I went out into the night air and walked up and down the street, drinking champagne, looking at the stars, and crying tears of joy. What a night.
What a beginning to the next eight years. (I'm thinking ahead. ;) )

[Maeve]

24. Drinking champagne and eating shrimp w/Hubby, cheering as the call was made

Watching the returns on MSNBC and pic-in-pic Comedy Central.

I had gotten home from 16 hours at the polls (plus taking precinct results to the election board warehouse) just after PA was called for Obama and I was finally starting to believe---we popped the champagne cork just as Ohio was called and knew then that hope had won.

[JimWis]

25. Home alone, but not really alone, because I was here on DU.

I had CNN on in the other room, trotting back and forth, checking in on the link for the electoral vote map, and replying to posts fast and furious. When CNN called it, this place really lit up. As fast as I heard CNN call it, a new post appeared and stated: "They just called the whole fucking thing for Obama." I went nuts and emailed a bunch of people to share my excitement. I won't forget that night. It was fun sharing it with you all. Then I went and opened a beer.

[FrenchieCat]

26. I was on the phone as soon as they called Ohio......because that is when I knew......

I called my husband (who was working at our offices and didn't think the race would be called so early, as he was about to lock up to come home-- here on Pacific Time), my daughter (who attends Harvard and lives with her new husband - they were already out in the streets looking for a celebration), my mother (who simply chanted "Obama, Obama, Obama" in her heavy French Accent),and my First Cousin. Then I emailed my Brother (who lives in Bangkok), my Nephew (who lives in France), my good Friend Mordechai (who lives in Israel) announcing the news.

Shortly thereafter, CNN called it for Barack Obama, and I opened up a bottle of champagne, and me and my 18 year old daughter made a toast.

I couldn't cry....because I had cried so much the last two days before.....
In otherwords, I was cried out.

I taped everything on the Television.....so I have it all starting at the calling of Pennsylvania! :)

[Doityourself]

27. I was in party mode---waiting to pounce!!! n/t

[Condem]

28. ya better update it to 12 Eastern, bicoastal.

[zulchzulu]

29. I was dancing to a New Orleans jazz band in Madison and crying with joy

The champagne... and thanks to a buddy, a splif out by the lake... it could not have been better!

[windbreeze]

30. At a school choir concert...only to come home and find the election had been called already...

celebrated by watching the speeches and drinking Martini & Rossi...Asti...With family and friends...wb

[Binka]

31. Sitting At Home With My Seven Year Old Watching PBS Yelling When Ohio Broke

Watching until they called the race for Obama. Then I called my companies CFO and bawled like a baby. She and I are very close, and she is from Kansas where Obama's mother was born and she too is a white woman married to an African American. We had been hanging tight since February, I was the total OPTIMIST, we cried because she never thought it would happen. It did. We bawled like babies.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[rosesaylavee]

34. Weeping on my sister's couch.

Will never forget it.

[Roon]

35. I was passed out on my boyfriend's couch

I asked him,"Wake me up when it's all over!" I woke up on my own before the news projected Obama as the winner. My boyfriend and I held each other and cried. The 8 year nightmare was finally going to end.

[Catherine Vincent]

36. At home, sitting on my ass at my computer on DU.

My niece and nephew were here and we high fived each other and started taking pics and then started calling all the proud Democrats we know to ask them if they heard the historic news.

[Stellabella]

37. Dancing around my house.

Happy, happy!

[democrattotheend]

38. I was just writing a (long) blog post about this

I was at my office, where we had a big election watch party. My boss had initially planned to coop us up in a room logging results as they came in, but I guess he realized the historic nature of the moment and decided we should all go downstairs and join the party. So I was in a big room with all of my coworkers, and we all yelled "ten, nine, eight..." as if it was New Year's Eve. Even though we knew what was coming it was still a shock to see the words "OBAMA ELECTED PRESIDENT" flash across the screen. My purse strap was getting raggedy and I knew it was going to break any day. Sure enough, the moment Obama was declared the winner, I jumped up and down holding my purse and it broke. I didn't care. If anything, it felt kind of fitting...I now have it as a souvenir, if that makes sense.

We all hugged and screamed and many people were crying. Several of my coworkers gave me big bear hugs and told me that I believed before anyone else did, and that I should be so proud. I was proud, of course, but I wish it was true that I had always kept the faith. The truth is, I got demoralized a few times along the way and was ready to give up, not because I lost faith in Obama, but because I lost faith in the American people to give him a fair hearing. One thing I have learned in this election is never give up. I know it sounds trite, but no matter what happens in politics you have to remember how quickly things can change and never give up even when it looks hopeless.

I called my mom, who was in tears. Everyone I knew was texting me, including my 21-year-old brother, who was never very political but waited in line for over 3 hours to vote in Miami a few weeks earlier. I called him back as soon as they called Florida for Obama, and to my surprise he agreed that the time he spent in line was worth it. I said a few weeks ago that the students who waited in lines for hours at Oberlin in 2004 because Kenneth Blackwell chose to underequip the polling place were heroes. I never thought my brother would be one of them.

For some reason I was kind of surprised to see McCain concede right away. I guess it's because I was only 12 in 1996 and barely remember it, and 2000 is the first election night I remember vividly. So the idea of one candidate winning, the other losing and conceding all in the same night seems like a little bit of a novelty to me. McCain's speech was gracious, but there were scattered boos, although for the most part people just sat quietly. I have to confess that I felt just a tad sorry for him and even for Sarah Palin when I saw her choking back tears. What can I say? I'm not a good sore winner. I was a hardcore Obama supporter in the primaries and I cried when Hillary conceded in June.

After McCain spoke, CNN had a caption on the screen that said "Waiting for President-Elect Obama to Take Stage" or something like that. I kept blinking to make sure I was reading it right. I think at some point I updated my Facebook status to say "Laura is staring up at the screen and still can't believe it says "President-Elect Obama"". I was sure it was a good dream that I was going to wake up from.

After Obama's speech, they mentioned on CNN that people were spontaneously converging on the White House. My office is very close to there, so I ran upstairs, put my laptop away and grabbed my coat, and ran outside. I thought I was probably crazy for going out there, until I saw my boss, my intermediate supervisor, and the director of the department among the crowd. My boss is pretty cynical - he's been around enough politicians to think that most of them are jerks, and he could have gone to Invesco but chose to leave Denver early to get more work done. So to see him standing on the White House lawn chanting "O-BA-MA" was a pretty remarkable site.

What was most remarkable, however, was the shared sense of celebration and renewed optimism among strangers from all walks of life. Some people chanted "USA, USA" and reclaimed American flags that they hadn't identified with for years. Some people were in tears and others were shouting. Some sang goodbye to Bush while others chanted "Yes We Can", which others corrected by changing the chant to "Yes We Did". I stared at the White House, which for the 3 years I have worked nearby has felt like a hostile neighbor that looks upon my organization with scorn, and thought about what it would be like to have a president I admire living there.

As I walked back to my office later, people were lining the streets screaming with joy. Cars were sitting there honking in celebration, and I was wishing I had driven to work so I could join them. Total strangers were screaming and high-fiving. One guy high-fived me so hard I thought my hand was going to fall off. You could yell joyously to anyone you saw and without talking to them you knew they were cheering for the same thing. I later learned that similar celebrations were happening in Harlem, in Chicago, even in Kenya, where the president had declared a national holiday in honor of Obama's victory.

My grandmother told me recently that she was on the Mall for Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech 45 years ago. I knew that that night that this would be a moment I tell my grandchildren about maybe 45 years from now.

[Whisp]

39. at my daughters house with some friends.

we were a loud group, watching the numbers. I did not expect the announcement for Obama's win to come so soon, so was caught a bit unawares. I was sure itwould drag on and we may not even known that night.

so when IT happened. we all sat there silent for a few seconds then all hell broke loose. yelled our heads off jumping up and down.
I had a bottle of champagne to celebrate - and it was called 'president's', lol. cheap stuff but tasted Great that night.

[prolesunited]

40. Grant Park in Chicago

celebrating with Barack. It was awesome!

[Starbucks Anarchist]

41. Times Square with thousands of people.

I posted video of the winning moment, too. It's in the archives.

[OswegoAtheist]

42. Doing homework

I was writing, interestingly, on my Social Justice readings.

Oswego "I got an A" Atheist

[Withywindle]

43. Here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf2KsFfgTzE


There are better-quality videos from Grant Park, but this one best captures the blurriness and intimacy and what I felt when MY home state (VA) was called, and I was shouting and squealing with my mom in VA on my cell phone at the point in the video where the crowd goes truly nuclear.