Binghamton University College Democrats members leapt into one another’s arms around 11 p.m. yesterday, when most television networks began to call the U.S. presidential election in favor of Barack Obama.

“Brian, we got Virginia!” yelled a friend to Brian Young, president of the organization.

Young was one of 27 members of the student group to spend much of the last five days in Pennsylvania, making last-second efforts in person there and by phone in other swing states, like Iowa and Ohio, up through yesterday evening. Obama won 55 percent of the vote in Pennsylvania, according to CNN.com early Wednesday morning.

“This has been a very long ride and tonight, we’re finally able to enjoy what we have worked for,” Young said. “This weekend it seems like we spent every free hour in Pennsylvania. We’ve been working countless hours. We hope what we did made a difference at least.”

John Jensen, the executive chairman of Binghamton University College Republicans, led similar efforts for his group and for Sen. John McCain’s campaign, and was disappointed they did not come to fruition.

“We all put everything we had behind McCain,” Jensen said. “I think a lot of us were very dedicated. Any political campaign where you’re not successful is a difficult thing.”

Jensen said that the Republican Party needs to look to the future and examine what it did wrong in this election. He also credited Obama, calling Tuesday “a milestone for America.”

The moment that Jensen said he felt McCain’s shot at presidency slipping away was the same one that College Democrats Vice President Jon Stockman said he “knew it was over”: at about 9:30 p.m., when Obama took Ohio.

“Ohio is the key; basically no Republican has ever won the presidency without Ohio,” Jensen said.

The College Republicans were also disappointed that George Phillips, whom they also campaigned for, was unable to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.). Hinchey received about twice as many votes as Phillips in securing his ninth term, according to unofficial results.

City of Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan, who attended a Democratic rally at the Binghamton Regency Hotel last night, focused on not only the presidential race, but the congressional one as well.

“This will really transform the country, because there was talk not too many elections ago that the Republicans would have a hold of Congress for a long, long time,” he said.

— Ashley Tarr contributed to this report.