Obama: New York's President

Last night Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States. In New York City, the residents surged with excitement.

After Obama was projected winner at 11 p.m., the streets and bars filled with smiling, excited faces. Shouts of "Obama!" could be heard late into the night all over the East Village.

The state of New York had one of the biggest gaps in percentages: Obama had %62 of the vote to McCain's 37%.

Long lines could be seen all over the Big Apple in the early election morning.

“This is fantastic, incredible,” said 62-year-old polling volunteer Milagros Vendimo about the long line at 7:00 a.m.

Vendimo has been polling sites for 25 years. But, this one was different: “The other [presidential elections] were slower…no one was interested.”

The Village View Housing Co-Op had been opening as a polling site since 5:30 a.m. Vendemio, bound to a wheelchair, helped direct voters to the correct booths. She said in the first two and half hours there were at least 250 people.

“It’s important to vote because of the state of the country,” said 26-year-old Attorney Joanna Lucashak in line at 7 a.m.

Lucashak thought Obama was going to win: “He has really energized people.”

Nora Pelizzari, 27, also woke up early to vote: “I said to myself, this has to be the first thing I do today.”

Pelizzari was so nervous that she wasn't going to watch the polls until the evening. She planned on having an election party after work.

As the day went on, nervousness continued to grow.

Will Healey, a 24-year-old NYU employee, had been a huge Obama fan since 2004. He first saw him speak at the Democratic National Convention that year and wondered why it wasn't him who was running for president.

"I'm nervous, very nervous," said Healey."I think it's going to be a lot tighter than people are anticipating."

Today, Healey woke up to a new America.

He was still bursting with excitement at 3 p.m.: "I feel freaking awesome."

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