TAMPA -- Five minutes after NBC called the race for Obama, the last University of South Florida student to vote cast his ballot for America's new president -- four hours after polls were scheduled to close in Hillsborough County.

Crowds of students at the Marshall Center had already begun screaming when Jeremiah Warren, 21, of Plant City, finished voting.

"It's just important to get my vote out," he said earlier in the evening. "As my friend said, 'If you don't vote, you can't say anything. Plus, it's a chance to elect a black president."

Within minutes, car horns were honking everywhere.

At 22nd Street and Fletcher Avenue in north Tampa, people in cars rolled down their windows and yelled out to other motorists,  "Obama won!" The answer came back with a question mark: "Obama won?" Some climbed on top of cars, waving their shirts.

Thomas Lee, 36, who has lived in Tampa since age 13, said he never thought he would see a black president even though his Mama told him it would happen.

"They'll bring our troops back and stop spending money over there," he said. "We need it right here."

--Justin George, Times staff writer