Barack Obama was elected president of the United States on Tuesday, the culmination of a historic, barrier-breaking campaign whose promise of change generated a groundswell at the polls. In the process, Obama may have changed American politics for good — and, we hope, for the better.
Iowans saw it first. But Minnesotans noted early and responded strongly both to Obama's message and to his campaign's innovative capacity to connect with supporters. Its inventive hybrid of autobiography, shoe leather, lofty oratory, Internet links and text messages drew Americans into the Obama campaign in ways more intimate and immediate than any previous campaign in memory.
Turnout at Minnesota's DFL caucuses on Feb. 5 was an astounding three to four times larger than previous records — a harbinger, it appears, of the presidential results in Minnesota yesterday. For the 12th time since 1960, the North Star State shone Democratic blue on national maps of presidential returns. For the first time in half a century, turnout in the state appeared likely to exceed 80 percent.
To its credit, inclusion was a hallmark of Obama's campaign. The campaign reached out to the young. It inspired long-disillusioned nonvoters to return to the polls, or to vote for the first time.
It was active in all 50 states — in large part because Hillary Clinton contested Obama's claim to the Democratic nomination until every state's Democrats had either caucused or cast primary votes. Democrats who fretted last spring that Clinton's persistence was damaging the party's prospects misread the situation. A vigorous intraparty rivalry among attractive, able candidates doesn't depress voter interest, but piques it.
The Obama campaign, and the Obama-Clinton contest that preceded it, proved to be a tonic to American democracy. So did the never-say-die campaign of Republican John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin. Their sheer spunk in the face of nearly six weeks of lagging poll numbers undoubtedly contributed to yesterday's strong turnout around the country. If McCain wasn't giving up, his supporters weren't going to stay home.
The new president will confront daunting problems — an economy on the ropes, two long wars yet unresolved, underperforming education, crumbling infrastructure. But thanks to yesterday's showing, President Obama will take office on Jan. 20 with the advantages of democratic legitimacy and a connection to a large share of the American people. If those connections survive the transition from campaign to governance, Obama's ability to deliver on his promises will be much enhanced.
No matter how they voted, many Americans left the polls Tuesday with the sense that they had contributed to something big. This election gave the nation more than its first African-­American president, and more than the return of Democrats to the White House after eight years. It also was an election that largely left behind small-politics wedge issues and focused on big ideas about America's role in the world and about Americans' relationships with each other. The competition produced an engaged electorate, a clear winner and a strong wind in democracy's sails.