By Mike Sarzo

Sentinel Staff Writer

National discussion of so-called red states and blue states may have taken center stage in recent years. However, Democratic Party revelers at La Fontaine Bleu in Lanham Tuesday night were united in celebration.

When MSNBC announced Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) won election as the 44th president at 11 p.m., the crowd erupted in rapturous applause, chanting, dancing and singing. Obama finished with 349 electoral votes to 147 for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Obama needed 270 votes in the Electoral College to win the presidency.

"This is one of the greatest days in the history of the country," said Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson in a speech before Obama was declared the winner. Addressing first time voters, Johnson said, "It's your first time. Don't make it your last time."

Songs such as McFadden and Whitehead's "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" and Christopher Cross's "Ride Like The Wind" punctuated the night, as did replays of Obama stump speeches during the campaign.

The crowd's anticipation neared a crescendo when MSNBC projected Obama as the winner in Virginia at 10:51 p.m., marking the first time in 44 years that state voted for a Democratic candidate.

Forty minutes before the scheduled 9 p.m. opening of the Election Day watch party, a crowd of approximately 100 cheered when NBC 4 projected Obama as the winner of Maryland's 10 electoral votes. Cheers punctuated the room when MSNBC called states for Obama, including Ohio, which many pundits described as a battleground state. In a speech in the days leading up to the election, McCain had told Ohioans that a president would have to win Ohio to win the presidency.

Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Dist. 4), who handily defeated Peter James in a rematch of their June 17 special election to fill the seat vacated by Albert Wynn, praised Obama's win and the Democratic Party's gains in the House and Senate.

"We are going to do great things for our country," Edwards said. Democrats won 17 Senate seats to 14 Republican wins, gaining a total of 54 seats in the Senate when it convenes Jan. 3, according to CNN figures. The Democrats also won an 82-seat advantage in the House of Representatives (255-173).

NBC 4's coverage of local races also flashed results including easy wins for Edwards and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Dist. 5), the House Majority Leader. They also projected wins for Question 1, which provided for early voting and no-excuse absentee ballots and Question 2, which adds an amendment to the state constitution authorizing the installation of 15,000 slot machines in five locations throughout the state.

At 11:19 p.m. Eastern time, McCain addressed a throng outside the Biltmore Hotel in and conceded the presidential race to Obama.

"We have come to the end of a long journey," McCain said. "The American people have spoken and they have spoken clearly," McCain said, drawing cheers from the television audience.

McCain called Obama's victory a symbol of racial progress and cited the country's history as a sign of progress.

"We both recognize that we have come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation's reputation," he said. "A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt's invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters. America today is a world away from the cruel and prideful bigotry of that time."

Minutes after McCain's concession speech, Laverne Brown, a notary working in Prince George's County praised Obama's campaign as professional and well organized and praised volunteers who helped get out the vote.

"This is about all of us," she said.

Contact Mike Sarzo at

editor-pg@thesentinel.com or

pgsentinelmike@yahoo.com

Photo by Marketa Ebert