There have been several news events that stick with a person when they're part of it.

Tuesday's election will be one for me, as I'm sure for many others.

It's not so much that Obama is "my guy." He is, to a degree. I think he's got the character and the mettle, in addition to the savvy to surround himself with the right people.

But my support for him is as much that I've had enough of the other guys -- despite in 2000 being a McCain guy.

What I liked most about Tuesday, however, is the crossing of a racial barrier that, two months ago, I feared we wouldn't cross.

After a summer of frequent encounters with "I'm not voting for a black guy" comments, I was anxious if white America could get beyond Obama's race -- and vote for him or not vote for him based on other reasons. It happened -- including in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

We've done it before in the Valley. In 2006, when Barbara Sykes, an African-American, ran for state auditor, she won all three of our counties. A person could nitpick that her numbers never matched the other Democrats on the ballot, such as Gov. Strickland, Marc Dann, Sen. Brown, etc.

The few thousand votes she was down compared to her peers' totals can be easily chalked off to some of the quirks in her campaign.

But while the Valley came out strong for an African-American candidate, the rest of Ohio didn't -- and Sykes was out.

That seemed to not happen with Obama on Tuesday.

We had an exciting night in the Vindy newsroom. We have video online giving you a behind-the-scenes look at the process involved in putting out today's paper. http://www.vindy.com/videos/2008/nov/05/492/" target="_blank">Click here to watch the video.

Our news coverage continues Thursday in the Vindicator (and today online) with this dramatic moment in our history.