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Whatever your beliefs, no matter who you voted for, I believe we witnessed significant history last night with the election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States.  Anyone have any reactions?

I wholeheartedly agree!  I will always remember where I was when all of this happened. Sitting on the couch with my wife. When the election was called at 11PM, I walked out onto my juliet balcony and expected to hear happy screams. Heard a voice a few houses down and a car horn honking as it drove down the street but my block was quiet for the most part. I was surprised by that!

I actually heard some fireworks being set off not far from me. I heard it first from Jon Stewart, and flipped over to CNN to make sure that it was real.

I've never been overly interested in elections before this, although I've never missed voting since registering at 18.  This was the most significant, quick and thrilling election I've ever seen.  It made me glad to be alive to witness it.  It was history in the making, and is the beginning of a whole new way for America.  In my opinion, there have never been contenders like McCain and Obama, and I don't see McCain as being the same as Bush at all.

I think in a nutshell that Obama's election can be summed up as a nation's knee-jerk reaction to an unpopular Bush presidency (as opposed to the merits of Obama). If this election happened in 2000, McCain would have won.

It's no doubt that the country shifted a bit to the left, and that's probably partly due to Bush's unpopularity, but whether McCain could have beaten Obama if they ran in 2000 depends on a lot of things.  Obama's speech at the DNC in 2004 propelled him into the public... In 2000, he hadn't made that speech yet.  I didn't even know his name in 2000.  I knew McCain, he was the guy Bush beat in the primary thanks to negative campaigning and the support of the fanatical right.  I would have liked to see McCain vs. Al Gore in 2000, and it's fairly likely that Gore would have won that fight.

Don't think too literally.  Try to think of it in the terms of pre-Bush... aka "if there was no Bush presidency to complain about / defend".  Who would win solely based on their merits?  I know it's purely speculative, but removing Bush and the emotional charge he gave Democrats in 2008 certainly brings the possible outcome over more to McCain. 

The Democrats wouldn't have had as much initiative as a "need for change" would bring, but the Republicans wouldn't have had the support of the religious right, with thousands of pastors telling their congregations that they should vote for the born-again Bush.  I think it would still be a close race, could go either way. But it's all just speculation... who knows what would really have happened. 

If the race involved McCain as he was in 2000, that would've been interesting. 2008 McCain was a far different creature.

I think everyone can appreciate the history-making regardless of his/her politics. :)