Sen. Barack Obama has made history — he successfully overcame racial issues and heated primary elections to win his place in the White House as the nation’s commander in chief.”Change has come,” he told a huge throng of cheering supporters in Chicago.Louisiana, widely considered a Republican state, cast its vote for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain but elected Democratic incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu to a third term in the U.S. Senate. Louisiana voters elected Republican Bill Cassidy as congressman for Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District, removing Democratic incumbent Don Cazayoux from office. As of press time, Obama also carried East Baton Rouge Parish along with nine other parishes in the state. Obama received 99,431 votes in EBR Parish while McCain captured 95,297 votes.The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, Obama sealed his historic triumph by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Iowa and more.In his first speech as president-elect, Obama catalogued the challenges ahead. “The greatest of a lifetime,” he said, “two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.”Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said McCain called Obama at 11 p.m. EST, moments after The Associated Press and television networks declared the Illinois senator the next president.Gibbs said Obama thanked McCain for his graciousness and said he had waged a tough race. He also said the Arizona senator was consistently someone who has showed class and honor during this campaign as he has during his entire life in public service.Gibbs quoted Obama as telling McCain, “I need your help, you’re a leader on so many important issues.”Kirby Goidel, mass communication professor, said the election results were about “what was expected.””There’s no doubt that this is an amazing moment in American history,” Goidel said as election results became apparent. “You have an African-American elected president of the United States when they make up 12 percent of the nation … It’s an amazing moment.”Goidel called the performance of Democratic candidates throughout the nation a “major Democratic tide” and a “rejection of the Bush administration.”Britton Loftin, executive director of the Louisiana Democratic Party, said the election means the end of “eight years of the Bush [administration].”Scott Jordan, communications director for the Louisiana Democratic Party, said Obama’s election is evidence of America’s progression.”It’s the first African-American president,” he said. “America has gotten beyond race in a lot of ways … It’s an amazing accomplishment.”At press time, with six states not called, 26 states and Washington D.C. joined the “Obama nation” — not including Louisiana.”Louisiana is just not amenable to a liberal African-American candidate,” said Edward Chervenak, University of New Orleans politics professor. Though preliminary polls considered Louisiana winnable by Obama, it did not stop Obama supporters from turning out in crowds throughout the state. The sounds of Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours,” filled the Ballroom Tiger at Red Lion Hotel while more than 150 Democratic supporters cried, cheered and danced at a party hosted by the Louisiana Democratic Party as Obama was named the 44th president of the United States.Simone Cifuentes, University law student and Louisiana Democratic watch party attendee, said it would have been “icing on the cake” if Louisiana would have been a blue state but said she is pleased with the outcome.”It’s about [expletive] time,” Cifuentes said.—-Contact Lindsey Meaux at [email protected]