There were many Ohio counties Obama did not win. But he won the state by reaching into areas that Democrat John Kerry neglected in his 2004 campaign. John Green heads the Bliss Institute for Applied politics at the University of Akron.
GREEN: In a lot of ways, this was the same strategy Ted Strickland used in 2006 in his big gubernatorial victory which was not to just concentrate on the big cities, which are heavily Democratic, but to reach out to really all the counties in Ohio, including counties that were going to vote, on balance, Republican because every vote counts.
Indeed, compared with the 2004 election, Obama turned many blue counties bluer, and turned very red counties into more of a purple. The counties home to Cincinnatti, Toledo, and Dayton swung significantly for the Democrat. Northwestern counties like Williams and Fulton voted for President Bush nearly 2-1. This year, Obama lost in those counties by much smaller margins. Green says Obama picked up votes all over.
GREEN: John McCain is underperforming compared to George Bush in 2004. And even in solidly Republican counties, Obama is overperforming compared to where John Kerry was.
Northeast Ohio, however, voted similarly to four years ago. Lake County, which Bush won by about four points in 2004, ended in a virtual tie with Obama winning by just 125 votes.
Economic woes likely helped put Obama on top in Ohio.
In exit polls, virtually all Ohioans said the economy is in bad shape. In Lakewood, voter Riva Ray said the economy drove her to cast her ballot for Obama.
RAY: Trying to find a job, trying to keep the bills paid. Trying to pay taxes on the house. Everything Americans are supposed to do. It's very hard.
But money was also on the minds of McCain supporters like Sandy Schulman. She voted in Green.
SCHULMAN: The economy frightens me because I'm retired. And my next egg and what that means to me.
As polls began to close, Cuyahoga County's Republicans gathered to watch the returns at the Silk Nightclub on the west bank of the Flats. It was a subdued gathering---at one point the song "Bridge Over Troubled Water" came over the loudspeakers. Party leaders tried to stay optimistic early on, but it was clear to most that this was not their night.
As McCain supporter Brad Cummings watched more states go for Obama, he said he'd support the new President, even if he doesn't agree with him.
CUMMINGS: I'm an American citizen. America is the greatest country in the world. I'll support him as my President, but I'll do everything that I can to make sure he doesn't damage the country irrevocably.
It was, as you'd expect, a very different picture at the Democratic headquarters-the Cleveland Hilton.
Jubilation as Obama's path to victory was all but certain. Latasha Sipp of Summit County was ecstatic.
SIPP: We, as African American people have came so far to be in this moment it's just surreal right now for me - I have to pinch myself to make sure this is real. It's just unbelievable.
Sipp was so excited by Obama's victory that she hugged a white stranger next to her, and the two jumped up and down for joy.