The cheers had begun.

When a raucous crowd inside Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines gathered for Sen. Barack Obama’s, D-Ill., and post-caucus party on Thursday, news was beginning to trickle in about Democratic results of the Iowa Caucuses.

Chants of “O-ba-ma,” a version of the “Ole ole ” song and seemingly a favorite cheer of supporters in “Fired up, ready to go,” were in full flight by the time the Senator from Illinois arrived at 10 p.m.

And then it got louder.

“They said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high. you have done what the cynics said we couldn’t do,” Obama said to massive cheers.

Obama was able to take 37.60 percent of the vote in Iowa, while his closest competitors, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, were only able to take 29.50 and 29.80 respectively.

A common theme to Obama’s campaign leading up to the caucuses was change. He reiterated that message Thursday night.

“We are choosing hope over fear, and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America,” Obama said.

Some of Obama’s views include providing health care to Americans without access, as well as gradually pulling troops out of Iraq, both issues that he touched on.

“Tonight we are one step closer to the America we want because of the choices you made tonight,” Obama said to more cheers from his supporters.

Iowa Communications Director for the campaign Josh Earnest said it was Obama’s commitment to unity that pulled him into the campaign effort. Earnest cited that in the 2004 Democratic Convention, Obama made a speech about not letting America become divided that stuck out to him.

“Both parties, frankly, were tired of seeing so much rancor and division and partisanship in Washington, and they really wanted a leader who could sort of rise above that and pull people together,” Earnest said. “Sen. Obama is somebody that has been doing that throughout his whole career.”

ISU students Brice Herbers, senior in mechanical engineering, and Elysha Elson, junior in professional heath programs, both attended the party after participating in their first caucus.

Herbers said he thought Obama showed the most promise out of all of the candidates. He said Obama’s caucus win should give him momentum moving on, and said he believed Obama would bring change to the country.

“I like the fact that he wants to restore America’s standing in the world and his foreign policy. “Herbers said. “He wants to change a lot of things.”

Elson said she supported Obama partly because of his views on education. Obama wants to eliminate the FAFSA and offer the first $4,000 of college tuition free for most Americans.

As for her first caucus, Elson said, “It was confusing. It was interesting, I learned a lot and I’ll look forward to the next one.”

Des Moines resident Runqing Dong talked about his support for Obama on Thursday afternoon before the caucuses. Because he had recently moved to Iowa from Tennessee, Dong did not plan on caucusing, but did say his choice would be Obama.

“He is very powerful and his ability to give speeches is great,” Dong said. “I think that he has that kind of charisma to cheer people up. I like his style.”

Although he did not plan to caucus, Dong said he would consider it in the future because of its importance to national politics.

“I think it matters a lot because it’s the first step and it acts like a signal for coming steps,” Dong said. “People will more focus on the top one or top two candidates in the first caucus so that matters a lot in the coming [contests].”

While Obama prepares to move on, he again called for Americans to come together.

“Together ordinary people can do extraordinary things, because we are not red states or blue states, but the United States of America,” he said.