Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 165, NO. 51 | Wednesday November 5, 2008
InDEX
4 · Opinion
7 · Lifestyle
10 · Sudoku
12 · Classifieds
13 · Crossword
16 · Sports
Fab Four: Tokyo Quartet
explores art and science
parallels. PAGE 7
Tip Off: Men’s basketball team
starts season with added depth.
PAGE 16
Obama ends fight
with historic win
By CAT HERINE LYONS
Daily Trojan
Sen. Barack Hussein Obama
(D-Ill.) was elected the 44th presi-dent
of the United States on Tuesday,
marking the first time the American
electorate elected a Black president.
As the seconds on CNN’s clock
counted down to 8 p.m., Obama
had clinched the 270 electoral votes
needed to call the election. Well be-fore
California was even counted,
commentators and McCain advis-ers
conceded that there was no way
for Republican nominee Sen. John
McCain to win the election with
Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania in
Obama’s column.
All six screens in USC Annenberg’s
East Lobby ran the headline “Barack
Obama Elected President,” amidst
the cheers, applause and tears of
several hundred students gathered
to witness the election results.
At press time, Obama won 349
electoral votes with McCain earn-ing
just 162. Several swing states
that went to Bush in 2004 voted for
Obama, including Virginia, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Indiana
and Florida.
With nearly 60 million votes for
Obama, the nation resoundingly
called for a stark change and new
direction from President George W.
Bush’s foreign and economic poli-cies.
Many say this historic moment
Cap to a
two-year
campaign
Students gathered in the lobby of
Annenberg on Tuesday night to
watch Obama win the election.
| see obama, page 11 |
By ariel edwards-levy
Daily Trojan
On an Election Day that saw
record turnout throughout the
country, USC students came out
in droves to campus polling sta-tions,
many waiting in lines that
snaked out of station doors.
Los Angeles County recorded
an estimated 82.39 percent regis-tered
voter turnout, a significant
increase over the 79.1 percent
recorded in the 2004 presiden-tial
election, according to the
Los Angeles County Registrar-
Recorder’s office.
At Our Savior Catholic Center
polling location, poll work-er
David Mack said almost 900
votes had been cast, plus another
80 to 100 votes by mail that were
dropped off.
He said that despite the high
turnout, wait times were short,
topping off at no longer than 30
minutes.
During the 2004 general presi-dential
election, the precinct saw
only about 600 votes, and fewer
votes by mail as well, he said.
About 300 students had voted
at Marks Tower by 6:45 p.m., not
including absentee or provision-al
ballots, poll worker Peggy Sims
said.
“There was a line before we
finished setting up today,” said
Xandria Slater, another poll work-er
at Marks Tower.
Kimberly Newberry, a sopho-more
majoring in creative writing
and political science, was one of
the early risers, casting her ballot
around 8:30 a.m. at the Catholic
Center.
“I got up a few minutes earlier
than usual so I could vote before
work,” she said.
Sims and other poll workers
estimated that students waited
in line for no more than 20 to 30
minutes throughout the day, with
continuous streams of students
rather than large groups of people
waiting to vote.
Slater said turnout at the
February primary election was
not nearly as high.
Students
flock to
the polls
Students headed to the polls
by the hundreds Tuesday, far
surpassing 2004 numbers.
| see turnout, page 2 |
MORE FROM
THE 2008 ELECTION
Issues at poll locations
Many students had to
cast provisional ballots
because of issues at
polling stations.
Page 6.
Stories from the polls
For many students and
community members
alike, Tuesday was their
first time voting.
Page 10.
Leah Thompson | Daily Trojan
Chosen ·Barack Obama won a decisive victory in the presidential election Tuesday night, taking several
battleground states that President George W. Bush won in 2004 during his re-election bid against John Kerry.
Senate
Democrats - 56 40 - Republicans
Democrats - 249 169 - Republicans
House of Representatives
162
Electoral
Votes
Popular
Vote:
53,804,835
46.7%
349
Electoral
Votes
Popular
Vote:
59,949,966
52.0%
Election 2008: By the Numbers
Leon Russo | Daily Trojan