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CHICAGO (CBS) ― About 150,000 supporters gathered in Grant Park to witness a defining moment in American history as Barack Obama took center stage Tuesday night as the first ever African American president-elect.

The crowd cheered, cried and waved American flags as the news arrived around 10 p.m. that Obama had won the election. Obama appeared around 11 p.m. and told the crowd: "Change has come to America."

Obama also thanked his wife, Michelle Obama, calling her his "best friend" and "the rock" of their family as well as the country's next first lady.

Obama credited his supporters for his success, but he cautioned of hard times ahead -- saying that the challenges tomorrow will bring will be the greatest in his lifetime.

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer," Obama said.

Oprah Winfrey and the Rev. Jesse Jackson were among those spotted in the crowd, and both were in tears.

CBS 2's Jim Williams reports that up to 125,000 people crowded into Grant Park -- ticketed spectators in Hutchinson Field at the south end of the park, those without tickets in Butler Field near the Petrillo Band shell.

The victory was deeply personal and deeply emotional for Chicagoans. A few years ago, a close friend of Barack Obama said she thought Obama might one day be elected mayor of Chicago, a high honor in itself. It was only in the past couple of years that he was envisioned as a future president.

 Hyde Park Residents Ecstatic For Obama

State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias said he looked back in the crowd to see his mother crying.

"It's unbelievable. This is the most incredible thing I've ever even heard of. I feel like I'm living a part of history and this is completely overwhelming and absolutely surreal," Giannoulias said. "It's one of the happiest moments of my life."

In the crowd, as the National Anthem was sung at the podium, spectators expressed pride at becoming a part of history.

"It's just exciting. It's historic. It's a moment that I wouldn't have given up for anything," said one spectator, Pauline. "We've been waiting and waiting, and it's finally happening. We're actually going to live the dream now."

Pauline said she never doubted Obama's victory, and she was jumping and shouting when Obama won.

"I wasn't in the park when I heard it. I was actually outside, and we were all screaming; I was running around hugging people I didn't even know," she said. "It was just so exciting. You could just feel it in the air. It was just a beautiful thing. It was just wonderful."

"I believe the night is special because America has proven that it can go forward, and we've got a great future ahead of us, and I think Obama's going to bring us all together," he said, "and if you look at the crowd, you will see that it's everyone out here -- not just blacks, but just everybody, and that's what makes a difference here. He's brought us together, so if we can hold past this, it's going to great for the next generation to come, and I think we're seeing that proof being laid tonight. So that's what the promise is for me today. That's what I'm proud about."

Added Kary Zarate of Rogers Park: "He proves that no matter what background you come from -- what gender you are, what nationality, what sexuality -- you can do anything in this country if you set your mind to it. And that is what America is about, and we haven't had it for eight years, and damn it, we're going to have it now."

"It's something you can't imagine, said Jules Conway. "It's one of the greatest feelings ever."

For Chicagoans, Grant Park is known best as a place for recreation and culture; home to the Blues and Jazz festivals, the Taste of Chicago and Lollapalooza. It is also well-known for Pope John Paul II's legendary address to Chicagoans in October 1979.

But CBS News' Bob Schieffer pointed out that in the world of national politics, many people still associate Grant Park with the violent confrontation between Vietnam War protesters and police during the 1968 Democratic Convention.

The mood on Nov. 4, 2008, is a 180-degree turn from 40 years ago.

Every so often, a roar would erupt from the crowd, either because another state has been called for Obama, or because the spectators are seeing themselves on TV.

In Butler Field, CBS 2's Ryan Baker reports that having to watch the rally from a Jumbotron was no deterrent for many spectators.

"It's important to be here and be part of history and have my children recognize that we are witnessing something very, very important," said a woman who came with her family.

Another man came all the way from Nashville, Tenn.

"I think that this is larger than just having a ticket and saying that you were in it. This is such a humanistic, worldwide thing that I had to be a part of it," the man said. "I didn't go to the Million Man March, but I'm here tonight."

Also in the crowd was Lisa Boon, 42, of Chicago, who said she burst into tears earlier in the day pondering what an Obama victory would mean.

Boon said her father was the cousin of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black Chicagoan who was abducted from a relative's home in Mississippi in 1955 and was tortured and killed, purportedly for whistling at a white woman.

"I was thinking of all the things done to Emmett and injustices to black people," she said. "This is amazing, simply amazing." 

In the Altgeld Gardens public housing complex on the Far South Side, where a young Barack Obama once worked as community organizer, voters eagerly cast ballots in an election many thought they would never see. In the shadows of gleaming downtown skyscrapers, the hopeful began gathering early near Grant Park.
 
Across this city Obama adopted as his home, people were hoping to be a part of something that will be remembered for generations.

"I want her to be able to tell her children when history was made, she was there," said Alnita Tillman, 50, who kept her 16-year-old daughter, Raven, out of school so they could be at the park by 8 a.m., more than 12 hours before gates would open for the evening's big event. A South Sider like Obama, Tillman had a coveted ticket to the rally in hand and high expectations for the man who could be the country's first black president.

"The hope I have for Obama ... it's in the African-American males being able to see what they can be, what they can do," she said. 

That sense of history was palpable across this city, particularly in the city's poorest neighborhoods, where people streamed through polling places Tuesday to cast their votes for the man who once walked their streets as a community organizer.

Gilbert Benford, a 60-year-old custodian voting at the housing complex where Obama spent much of his time, Altgeld Gardens, is old enough to remember the days when blacks were hurt or killed for trying to vote, eat in a restaurant or sit in the front of a bus.

Inside the voting booth, Benford said he thought of a trip his mother took to Washington to hear a young preacher named Martin Luther King Jr. talk of his dream -- a dream Benford hoped voters might help the country achieve on Tuesday .

"Maybe they can level the scales of justice," said Benford, wearing his work gloves as he left the polling place. "Maybe then they'll be even. Everybody will live that dream."

Obama Calm Earlier On Election Day
Earlier in the day, Obama's attitude was so calm on the plane ride from Indianapolis Tuesday afternoon that the main topic of discussion was the makeup of the four teams that would play in his traditional Election Day basketball game, at Attack Athletics on the West Side, and what kind of pizza they would be having after the game was over.

As is his custom before a big election, Obama likes to play ball with Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias. Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan, who was rumored as a contender for Obama's Education Secretary should he win, also was on the court. The competition was no doubt intense--Duncan played basketball in college. 

"We played basketball today. He had his suit off, regular, just one of the guys, and his ability to stay calm, cool and collected is like nothing I've ever even heard of," Giannoulias said. "It's a phenomenal talent. It's a sign of strength. And tonight, we changed the course of American history."

Obama spent the evening watching returns at his home in Hyde Park before moving a few miles north to the rally in Grant Park later tonight.

CBS 2's Jim Williams, Vince Gerasole, Ryan Baker, Chief Correspondent Jay Levine and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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