President-elect Obama wins landslide victory
Paige Gabriel
Issue date: 11/6/08 Section: News
Sen. Barack Obama won Tuesday's presidential election and will be inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States on Jan. 20, 2009.
The Associated Press called Obama's victory a landslide. As The Echo went to press and with three election results in three states undecided, Obama took 349 electoral votes to Sen. John McCain's 147.
Obama also won the majority of the popular vote. With 94 percent of precincts in the United States counted, Obama had 52.3 percent of the popular vote to McCain's 46.5 percent.
According to the Associated Press, the 2008 presidential election is the first time in 32 years a Democrat has won with a majority in both electoral votes and the popular vote. Jimmy Carter was the last Democratic president to do this.
The election was called for Obama by most of the major cable news networks after the polls closed on the West Coast at 8 p.m. PST.
"We kind of knew what was going to happen after the first polls closed so the result was kind of anticlimactic," Rebecca Owens, a freshman from Franklin, Tenn., said.
Nicole Wooten, a freshman from Memphis, said she is happy Obama won the election.
"I don't agree with McCain's ideals, and I think it is really cool to be seeing this change in our country," Wooten said. "It's exciting to be a part of all the 18 to 24 year olds who are coming out and making a change."
Daniel Chelette, a freshman from Knoxville, said he is also happy that Obama won.
"I'm excited to see what he can do with the country now that he is in a position to affect change," Chelette said.
"It is nice to see something other than the same old conservative white males in power and the stereotypical conservative vision," he said.
Drew Glass, a sophomore from Chattanooga, said, "I would have voted but I honestly couldn't justify voting because I did not like either candidate after watching the debates and listening to their positions."
Brittany Brown, a Chattanooga sophomore, said "Obama is a good speaker but I think that McCain has more experience."
May Dwyer, a freshman from Nolensville, Tenn., said she did not really support either candidate.
Owens said: "History for history's sake is not a good thing. I have no problem electing a black president but I would prefer to elect whoever is best for this country regardless of their skin color or gender."
Kristi Tobin, a freshman from Columbia, Tenn., said: "I think we need to support [Obama] now that he is elected. A divided country never works well so we need to accept that he won and make the best of it."
The Associated Press called Obama's victory a landslide. As The Echo went to press and with three election results in three states undecided, Obama took 349 electoral votes to Sen. John McCain's 147.
Obama also won the majority of the popular vote. With 94 percent of precincts in the United States counted, Obama had 52.3 percent of the popular vote to McCain's 46.5 percent.
According to the Associated Press, the 2008 presidential election is the first time in 32 years a Democrat has won with a majority in both electoral votes and the popular vote. Jimmy Carter was the last Democratic president to do this.
The election was called for Obama by most of the major cable news networks after the polls closed on the West Coast at 8 p.m. PST.
"We kind of knew what was going to happen after the first polls closed so the result was kind of anticlimactic," Rebecca Owens, a freshman from Franklin, Tenn., said.
Nicole Wooten, a freshman from Memphis, said she is happy Obama won the election.
"I don't agree with McCain's ideals, and I think it is really cool to be seeing this change in our country," Wooten said. "It's exciting to be a part of all the 18 to 24 year olds who are coming out and making a change."
Daniel Chelette, a freshman from Knoxville, said he is also happy that Obama won.
"I'm excited to see what he can do with the country now that he is in a position to affect change," Chelette said.
"It is nice to see something other than the same old conservative white males in power and the stereotypical conservative vision," he said.
Drew Glass, a sophomore from Chattanooga, said, "I would have voted but I honestly couldn't justify voting because I did not like either candidate after watching the debates and listening to their positions."
Brittany Brown, a Chattanooga sophomore, said "Obama is a good speaker but I think that McCain has more experience."
May Dwyer, a freshman from Nolensville, Tenn., said she did not really support either candidate.
Owens said: "History for history's sake is not a good thing. I have no problem electing a black president but I would prefer to elect whoever is best for this country regardless of their skin color or gender."
Kristi Tobin, a freshman from Columbia, Tenn., said: "I think we need to support [Obama] now that he is elected. A divided country never works well so we need to accept that he won and make the best of it."
