Alexandria (web|news), Va. - Obama's win has changed four decades worth of voting patterns in Virginia. In fact, for the first time since 1964, the commonwealth has turned blue.

In Virginia, Obama beat McCain 52 percent to 47 percent, and a big part of that win hinged on Prince William County (web|news), which hosted both presidential candidates within weeks of election day. On Monday, an estimated 90,000 people attended Obama's final rally in the county before the polls opened on Tuesday.

Geri Weis-Corbly spent the day after the election clearing the clutter left behind by revelers after the Democratic clean sweep. "I love the mess. I love it," Weis-Corbley said.

Her willingness is proof of all of the hard work volunteers underwent to ensure an Obama win that seemed historically out of reach. Obama, however, was able to pull out a roughly 12-point lead in the long-time red county, generating feelings of both resignation and elation.

"I am really proud that the state went blue," said Buffy Christensen, an Obama supporter.

"I'm actually kind of disappointed. Forty-four years of voting for a Republican, I thought that's just the way it's going to be," said, Jennifer Lalli, a McCain supporter. Lalli, whose brother just came home from Iraq (web|news), is concerned about Obama's military policy, saying, "hopefully everything will work out in the end."

In President-elect Barack Obama (web|news|bio) 's first email to his millions of supporters after the presidential race was called in his favor, he wrote, "All of this happened because of you. We just made history."

Campaign volunteers like Francis Gipson may be the real reason a Democrat won the race for president in the commonwealth. An unparalleled grassroots effort that effectively tapped into the Internet made a critical difference in several swing states. And clearly America's youngest voters played a role.

Others simply believe Barack Obama was just the right candidate at the right time.

Battleground Virginia took center stage on election night as the state went to Democrat Barack Obama. An ABC exit poll found that one in four Virginians made their decision within the past month, but those who decided on election day were split evenly between Obama and McCain.

Obama volunteers who stayed up all night celebrating spoke to ABC 7 / NewsChannel 8's Alisa Parenti as the sun rose on Wednesday."I think the amount of people he got to come," said volunteer Benjamin Garner, explaining how Obama's strategy helped him take Virginia. "He's an inspiring leader, and he's able to inspire all types of people from all walks of life. And it inspired me, and I know it inspired numerous people I know -- across the country and around the world."

Enthusiastic young Obama volunteer Kevin Bledsoe spoke to the power of the youth vote in Obama's victory. "My friends, all the youth -- well, this is my first time voting, so I'm really excited, and all my friends, we went out to vote, and we called each other, like, 'You going to vote?' We're just really excited about it."

Pundits say that Obama likely was boosted, especially in the southern counties in the commonwealth, by the popularity of victorious Democratic Senate nominee Mark Warner (web|bio) . Moreover, Vice President-elect Joe Biden made a get-out-the-vote visit to the battleground state on election day, the last of many Obama campaign stops there.

Strategists say the Obama ground game, run by thousands of volunteers, played a key role in electing Barack Obama in the Old Dominion. A constantly-growing, well-organized grassroots effort changed a political pattern that has held for decades. Volunteers were celebrating their efforts in Manassas even before the votes were counted. Outside the campaign's Manassas operations, with volunteers thronging around the building, Obama campaign volunteer Ray Aponte said, "I came here and I saw all these people -- my heart just soared."

Not only did Obama's volunteers give of their time and effort, supporters also gave from another vital place: their wallets. Obama raised a record-smashing $750 million. Even more remarkably, more than 3 million supporters made contributions averaging less than $80 each.