Campaign09

MIAMI (CBS4) ― There is little doubt that in the days, weeks and years to come, the word that will most often be used to describe Barack Obama's election will be the word historic.

Historic for the fact that he will be the first African-American president; a child of both Kenya and Kansas who bridged America's turbulent racial divide with a calm, reassuring ease that belied just how difficult the journey was.

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer," Obama declared Tuesday night.

Throughout his campaign, Obama downplayed the issue of race, publicly exploring the topic only when forced to do so last Spring following the uproar over his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Although given reluctantly, the resulting speech last March in Philadelphia made the case as to why the problems of the past, while important, could not be allowed to define his candidacy. What mattered was the future.

"I chose to run for the presidency at this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; that we may not look the same and we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction - towards a better future for of children and our grandchildren," Obama said at the time.

And when you examine why Obama won you realize he reached well beyond those who look like him. He won significant numbers of white working class voters and independents, performing as well, if not better, than John Kerry did four years earlier.

He overwhelmingly won Jewish voters, and split the white Catholic vote. He carried women, capturing 57 percent of their votes, and won among young white voters. And any notion that Hillary Clinton voters would abandon the Democratic nominee proved nothing more than a fantasy, as 85 percent of them voted for Obama.

But perhaps the most striking shift was among Hispanics. In Florida, 55 percent of Hispanics supported Obama compared to just 45 percent for McCain. In 2004, those numbers were reversed with Bush receiving 56 percent of the vote to just 44 percent for Kerry.

Nationally, 68 percent of Hispanics voted for Obama. In 2004, Kerry only received 53 percent of Hispanic votes. A 15 point jump from one presidential election to another is startling, and will likely cause panic among Republicans. The shift was likely caused by two factors, first, like everything this year, the economy drove voters to Obama, but certainly the venom displayed by Republicans during the debate last year surrounding immigration has cost them dearly. The irony, of course, is that it was McCain who tried to advance immigration reform, costing him dearly with conservative Republicans.

The day before the election, Jeb Bush told me that if Republicans continue to alienate Hispanics they will risk losing the Hispanic vote forever to Democrats.

Obama's campaign is historic for other reasons, as well. Obama has redefined the way presidential elections will be run. The electoral map is no longer blue on the East Coast, blue on the West Coast and red in between. The so-called fly-over states are now in the mix. Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, Nevada, Indiana, and Ohio all went for Obama.

And for better or worse, Obama has forever changed the way campaigns are financed. Obama's use of the internet to attract more than 3.2 million donors to his campaign almost certainly means the end to public financing for elections.

Indeed there is only one word to describe what happened last night – historic. It was a watershed moment where so many ghosts of the past may finally have been put to rest. Does it mean that all of our problems surrounding race are behind us? Of course not, and anyone who suggests that is being naive. But we are entering a new day.

As Obama said last night, "Change has come to America."

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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