“I went to bed crying, I woke up crying. I’ve been choking up reading stories on the computer today,” said Jeremiah, a 44-year-old mother of two and office manager at the University of Oregon’s theater arts department.

“He’s sparked this feeling that if we stretch our hands out to our neighbors and our local politicians and we gather together in groups, we can come together and make the changes. … It will require us all to change, and we will all have to participate. I don’t see it as a victory. I see it as a way forward,” she said.

Throughout Lane County, residents pondered what the new leadership will mean, not only for the country, but for Oregon and even their local community. Whether they voted for Obama or backed Republican Sen. John McCain, many seemed willing to give the new president the benefit of the doubt in the face of the enormous challenges the country faces. Many were at least cautiously hopeful about what Obama’s presidency will mean for the issues they care about.

Eugene peace activist Phyllis Hockley knows the new president will have plenty on his plate when he takes on his new responsibilities. And it’s OK with her if he focuses first on the economy.

A good economy is a cornerstone of peace, Hockley said. Hockley wants to see a federal Department of Peace with a secretary of peace. But she’s not naive. She knows the proposal is a long shot.

“We have a better chance with Obama. He’s very open. He listens. We might get there, but I know it’s going to be awhile,” she said.

But Oreskovic is a lifelong Republican and, while she admired the Democratic candidate, she had a son who served in Iraq — and who came home wounded. She worried that Obama lacked the skill or experience to be commander in chief. So she voted for McCain.

“I voted for his experience, his presence in D.C. I think he works well with his constituents and his co-senators and he’s been through a lot,” she said. She trusted him to manage the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

And yet, she said, she sees potential for greatness in Obama. “He’s very serious-­minded. He hit the ground running.”

Jason Alves, a University of Oregon student and a former sailor who served in the Navy from 2001 to 2005, backed Obama.

He isn’t worried about Obama as commander in chief: “He’s addressed the issue of fighting terrorists in Afghanistan.”

But Vietnam War veteran and former Eugene mayoral candidate Nick Urhausen isn’t so sure about that. Urhausen voted for McCain.

“Obama doesn’t have any military experience, so we don’t know,” Urhausen said. “He’s not tested. We’ll have to find out what happens.”

Obama’s speech-making skills may not be enough, Urhausen said.

“I’ve listened to all these speeches. It’s all rhetoric. It’s clever rhetoric. You can sway Americans with it, but you can’t sway the people that want to kill us,” he said.

As a staff attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center, Charlie Tebbutt spent the 1990s bird-dogging the Clinton administration to make sure federal agencies obeyed environmental laws. Under President George W. Bush, environmental lawyers fought to preserve the laws themselves as the administration sought to dismantle decades of environmental regulations enacted by Congress, Tebbutt said.

“For the last eight years, we have fought hard to defend and preserve the laws in this country. Now we hope to work with the Obama administration to reverse the damage done,” he said.

Obama’s focus on clean and renewable energy puts environmental concerns squarely in the center of natural resource discussions, Tebbutt said.

“The present energy and development policies depend on resource extraction and resource exploitation. Moving forward we can work with the administration to achieve the necessary symbiotic relationship we need to survive,” Tebbutt said.

The good news from Tom Parton’s point of view is that familiar faces remain in Congress. Parton, president of the American Forest Resources Council, said his timber industry organization has spent the past two years working with a Democratic majority in Congress. Key Democrats on important committees — Washington Rep. Norm Dicks on appropriations and California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who heads the interior and environment subcommittee — understand the West’s natural resources, Parton said.

He worries that Obama may lack a clear understanding of federal forest issues. But the president-elect’s concern about climate change and greenhouse gas emissions makes him sensitive to the need to thin federal forests to keep the tremendous impact of wildfire-caused carbon emissions at bay, Parton said.

Business

Randy Papé, owner of a Eugene construction equipment dealership, voted for John McCain, but he’s not necessarily alarmed about an Obama presidency.

Papé likes Obama’s plan to help create jobs by spending federal money on highway and other infrastructure projects. Papé’s not keen on Obama’s plan to raise income taxes on wealthy individuals. But he also said he doesn’t think the new president will push for the hike in the present weak economy.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Papé, president of the Papé Group dealership and part owner of LibertyBank.

Some Eugene-Springfield area business people are worried that an Obama administration and a Democratic-controlled Congress could hurt business and an already fragile economy.

Yet others think Obama’s ability to inspire hope and confidence could improve the economy by easing the fears of jittery consumers, investors and entrepreneurs.

Count Papé among that group. “People were excited (at Obama’s election). And I think that plays an important role in the mental psyche of people, that we are moving forward,” he said.

“People aren’t going to spend if they are worried that they will lose money in the stock market,” he said. “A business is not going to invest in an expansion or hire new employees if they don’t think they can profit by that.”

But “Obama doesn’t seem like the same old politician,” said Poverman, whose business last month celebrated its 30th anniversary. “With him there is a chance to make something positive happen. Will that affect consumer confidence? Yes, if he can pull it off. That is the dream. That is the rhetoric. But can he really do it?”

Ron Richey, co-owner of Eugene-based Staton Companies, a demolition firm, said he’s concerned about Obama’s campaign proposal to increase income taxes on people earning more than $250,000 a year.

As the owners of S Corporation, Richey and co-owner Jeanne Staton report the Staton Companies’ profits as income on their individual tax returns.

If Obama and Congress raise taxes on that income, Richey said, “We’ll have to make the decision, do we keep employees or pay taxes?”

Staton Companies provide good-paying jobs and benefits, Richey said.

“Most of our profits go back into the business and in support of the business and the employees,” he said. “Every dollar that our taxes go up is a dollar less that we reinvest in our employees and in our company.

“I don’t see anything positive (from the election) from our position as business owners and entrepreneurs.”

Parker’s firm has grown from three employees six years ago to 30 people today who install solar energy systems at commercial and industrial businesses throughout Oregon. Parker predicts that his firm could grow to 50 employees by the end of next year, especially with the recent extension of federal tax credits for firms that install solar power systems.

The young and the old

Wherever Eugene-area college students gathered Tuesday night — in the Erb Memorial Union, campus-area apartments or local watering holes — cheers erupted when Obama’s electoral vote total topped the needed 270.

“I was close to tears half the night,” UO student Mark Alumno said. “Once he took it, I was just, ‘Wow.’ ”

Strong get-out-the-vote efforts on campuses across the country seemed to pay off for Obama. “It’s been said a lot of times before that the youth vote is something that’s touted but never seen,” UO student body president Sam Dotters-Katz said. “This year that was not the case.”

At the other end of the age demographic, Obama’s win was greeted warmly by many at the Campbell Senior Center in Eugene.

“It looks good to me,” said Gordon Jones, 91. “If politics don’t get too crazy, I think it’s going to work out fine.”

For several seniors, just the prospect of replacing the incumbent president was more than enough reason to be pleased with Election Day.

“I’m very happy that it’s going to be close to the end for Bush,” said Don Blair as he shot pool in the rec room.

That feeling wasn’t universal, however. Bud Smith, 79, said the election didn’t turn out as he had hoped. “It wasn’t who I voted for,” he said of Obama. “Let’s just hope that we can go ahead with things instead of backward.”