A blast of blue and white confetti showered U.S. Sen.-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday night as the Illinois state senator gave his victory speech before a ballroom packed full of supporters.
Obama trounced Republican Alan Keyes at the polls Tuesday to become the fifth black U.S. senator in history.
With 73 percent of precincts reporting, Obama had 73 percent, or 2,515,350 votes, and Keyes had 24 percent, or 844,108 votes, in unofficial returns. Two third-party candidates split the rest of the vote.
At the downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel on Tuesday, Obama led the crowd of 2,000 gathered at his $100,000 victory party with preacher-style chants of “Yes, we can!”
It was a triumphant end to a day that began 14 hours earlier at a polling place near his home in Hyde Park. From 7:15 a.m. to 9:15 p.m. when national television went live to Obama on stage, an army of staff and media were mobilizing around the candidate, working up to the final, confetti-strewn moment.
Here’s how the day unfolded:
6 a.m.: Polls open. Republican challenger Keyes casts his ballot in a garage in Calumet City.
7:15 a.m.: A cold mist falls on the press crowding the sidewalk outside the Catholic Theological Union in Hyde Park, where Obama is expected any minute. A long line of voters snakes out of the main polling room while area residents wait their turn.
A flash of cameras signals the candidate’s arrival.
“Good morning everyone,” Obama calls to the media. He walks among the crowd of reporters, holding the hands of his two daughters, 6-year-old Malia and 3-year-old Sasha. Michelle, his poised wife, follows and jokes to the press, “Don’t you think he’s been on TV enough?”
This neighborhood is Obama country, and it shows. Residents grin at the candidate as they allow him to pass to the front of the line. “I’m waiting for you to be at the top of the ticket,” a man in line calls out. A young woman approaches Obama for an autograph.
But Obama country’s center is also independent-minded Hyde Park, so not everyone is happy with the fuss and the waiting. Someone says, “The rest of us want to vote too.”
After Obama votes (with his youngest daughter assisting in punching the ballot), he says a few words to the press. One reporter shouts out, “Could you imagine this a year ago?”
Obama and his wife say “no.”
10:30 a.m.: Keyes meets and greets voters outside an elementary school at 64th Street and Ashland Avenue, his last campaign stop in the city.
3:30 p.m.: The Hyatt Regency Hotel’s Grand Ballroom is packed with Obama signs. Bartenders open wine bottles and stack glasses, while caterers set up the buffet. Huge Obama photo posters are on the floor, ready to be hung from the ceiling.
Members of the media, who began arriving at 10 a.m. and include journalists from as far away as Kenya (his father’s homeland) and London, are set up along rows of tables and risers. Cameras and lights are in place, cords are twisted into a net on the ballroom carpet, and it’s still another five hours before Obama takes the stage.
5 p.m.: The Keyes ballroom opens at the Chicago Hilton and Towers. There is just a smattering of signs in the largely empty room, which is about a third the size of Obama’s headquarters for the night. There is one catering table, and caterers arrange cookies on it from plastic boxes.
A reporter is greeted by George Cecala, Keyes’ deputy press secretary, who is dressed in jeans, black Doc Martens and a black parka. When did the media get here? “Don’t know,” Cecala said. “They were here before me.”
Some 15 journalists are milling around. The camera guys catch a “Seinfeld” re-run while a TV reporter leafs through a magazine.
5:30 p.m.: The Obama ballroom is starting to buzz. Tables are loaded with barbecue chicken, cheese and crackers–and ice sculptures that read “Obama: Only One America.”
6:10 p.m.: A group of photographers is led up to the 33rd floor down a long hallway to the suite where Obama relaxes. Inside, the candidate and his family are nestled on one end of a sleek couch. Malia and Sasha are in pink party dresses and black Mary Janes, squirming in their parents’ laps, and Michelle, in a golden suit, sits with her legs folded under her. The photographers file out, and another dozen journalists silently file in.
6:30 p.m.: The Chicago Defender begins handing out its special-edition issue with the headline, “Mr. Obama Goes to Washington.”
7 p.m.: The ballroom continues to fill up, and a few hundred people munch on buffet appetizers.
7:50 p.m.: News reports say Obama is projected to win. The room, packed wall to wall, erupts in cheers.
9 p.m.: A pastor leads the crowd of 2,500 in prayer. An inspirational video of Obama is played, and the candidate takes the stage at 9:15.
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“I’m waiting for you to be at the top of the ticket.”
Barack Obama supporter
The Keyes ballroom opens at the Chicago Hilton and Towers. There is just a smattering of signs in the largely empty room.
