Thousands gather in Chicago’s Grant Park to await election results

Chicago — Tens of thousands of people are camped out in Chicago’s Grant Park to witness history as the presidential election is decided.

The first precincts have begun reporting numbers and Americans are likely to know who will be their next commander in chief before morning.

Regardless of the winner, America will see a historic president enter the White House. If Democratic candidate Barack Obama wins, he will be the first African-American president. If Republican candidate John McCain wins, he will become the oldest president in history and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, will be the nation’s first woman vice president.

Spectators at Grant Park came from as close as across the street and as far away as across the ocean.

Laurent Guyot, a French citizen who has been teaching history at Chicago’s National-Louis University for the past two years, said many people from his home nation have been following the election as closely as Americans.

“America is the most powerful nation in the world, so as you change your president, it could change the face of the world,” he said. “It’s important.”

While some people stayed away from downtown expecting the crowds to be too large and bracing against the possibility of mayhem, those who showed up said no crowd could keep them away from witnessing the rally.

Allison Fenton came all the way from Colorado to see it.

“I’m here for business, but I wouldn’t have missed this for the world as long as I’m here,” she said. “I’m looking for a big W for the big O.”
Chicago police Sgt. Pietrzak, who declined to reveal his first name, said police are not expecting any problems tonight. The Chicago police force is out in full force to contain the crowd. Officers have been banned from taking the night off, and there are several police officers on nearly every corner near Grant Park.

“There’s anywhere from 500,000 to a million people here tonight,” he said. “We got here at 1 (p.m.) and they were already lined up.”

As spectators in Grant Park watched CNN’s election coverage while waiting for Obama to arrive on stage, cheers erupted from the audience each time the network predicted a win for Obama in a state, with a loud roar when CNN announced that Obama had taken Illinois.

“It’s really exciting,” Fenton said. “History in the making.”