Barack Obama's victory has sent supporters dancing into the streets in California.
Firecrackers went off and traffic stopped at Oakland's Jack London Square as Obama was declared the country's first black president-elect. Drivers blew their horns and a crowd cheered and danced.
Democrats went into the election with a 12-point registration edge over Republicans, 44 percent to almost 32 percent, partly due to the fact that Hispanic voters, who lean Democratic, doubled between 1990 and 2005, to 19 percent.
Tuesday, Hispanics and blacks overwhelmingly voted for Obama, while whites backed him by a slimmer margin, according to exit polls for The Associated Press. Both men and women turned out for Obama, as did California voters of nearly every income level and educational background.
