A moment for hallelujahs

Bernard, 30, is an insurance agent.

Aaron, 27, is about to enter the Los Angeles Police Academy.

Alexandra, 25, just graduated from University of the Arts in Philadelphia with a major in dance.

All three kids were as committed as their parents to an Obama victory, and not just because he is black. As the son of a white mother and black father, Obama will be able to relate to all kinds of Americans, the Tolliver brood noted.

At McCarty Memorial Church, which is also the home of the Agape International Ethiopian Church, about 30 African Americans, Latinos and whites waited to vote.

"I've never seen a line," said Bernadette, a retired information technology manager for L.A. County.

An elderly woman named Lounetta Rhodes filed in behind the Tollivers. It was going to be a 30-minute wait, with the turnout matching massive voter interest across California and the rest of the nation, but Rhodes kept it in perspective.

"I moved here in 1960 from Texas, where my grandfather had to pay a poll tax to vote," she said. "He said he had to save his dimes to make sure he could vote each year."

Mr. Tolliver was the fourth member of his family to vote on Tuesday. He took his ballot and strode purposefully to the far end of the room and did his duty. And then, with a spring in his step, he turned his ballot in to a young poll worker who asked:

"How's it going?"

"Glory hallelujah. That's how it is," Tolliver said. "Glory hallelujah!"

When the family left the polling place, Mr. Tolliver held up his voting stub.

"I'm going to save this here," he said. "This is history."

On the way back home, Mr. Tolliver predicted that if he wins, Obama won't have an easy time addressing the raft of problems that will await him. He said he didn't believe Obama's pledge that he would cut taxes for 95% of all families, but he felt Obama had a much better chance of forging a problem-solving consensus than McCain would have.

As the family crossed the street, he was reciting sections of the Constitution, just because the spirit struck him.

Back in the kitchen, Mr. Tolliver was ready to start the party. "Now we'll find the best and the brightest" to solve the problems of the nation and the world, he said. "Enough of these average minds" who rose to power "by birthright."

But his son, Aaron, worried that Tolliver was celebrating too early. "Dad," he asked, "what are you going to do if McCain wins?"