The long road to the White House ended Wednesday afternoon as Democratic challenger John Kerry conceded his presidential bid to Republican incumbent George W. Bush.

Meanwhile, campaigns across the state of Iowa wound down from a record-breaking get-out-the-vote effort. After nearly 1.5 million voters showed up at the polls to make their voices heard in a race for the ages, foot soldiers for the political parties breathed a bittersweet sigh of relief.

“We were knocking on doors until 8:55 p.m.,” ISU Democrats president Gabe Whitaker said. “If that person could still get to the polls, we were going to get them there.”

Whitaker said the results disappointed him, but there were some positives that came out of the campaign.

“I was happy to see so many students turn out this year,” Whitaker said.

Throughout the night, he said, Democrats across central Iowa worked at a feverish pitch to get voters to the polls. In many places there was a surplus of volunteers.

Early in the night, the election seemed pretty promising, he said.

“I stayed pretty positive throughout the night,” he said. “I was disappointed when I saw Iowa turn to Bush.”

Jan Bauer, chairwoman of the Story County Democrats, said some volunteers stayed at their office at 319 Clark Ave. late into the night.

“We were anxiously watching the polls,” Bauer said. “It was a very long day. There was a lot of excitement.”

ISU College Republicans President Louis Kishkunas said he was amazed at how hard everyone around him worked. From the College Republicans to the “little old ladies in Story County,” Kishkunas said, volunteers made sure every person’s vote counted.

“The effort all across the state was just phenomenal,” he said.

In Republican strongholds like western Iowa — an area with traditionally lower turnout rates — Kishkunas said, people were voting in droves.

In previous elections, he said, places like western Iowa were off-set by Democratic-leaning urban areas like Polk County and eastern Iowa.

With these two competing areas so divided, the real battle came down to encouraging voters in central Iowa to go to the polls, he said.

“The difference was made here in counties like Story County,” he said. “It was an uphill battle.”

Despite losing the state to Bush, by 50 to 49 percent, Bauer said she was proud of all the volunteers that helped out during the campaign and glad Democrats could claim some victories.

“We had some big victories here in Story County,” she said.

Early victories like Democratic incumbent Lisa Heddens’ win in Iowa House District 46, and Beth Wessel-Kroeschell’s win in the open seat for District 45, gave the party a boost, she said.

Other surprises also gave campaign workers hope for the future, including a record-breaking turnout.

According to the Secretary of State’s office, more than 1.49 million Iowans showed up to the polls Tuesday, shattering previous records of 1.32 million in 2000, and 1.35 million in 1992.

With the election decided, Bauer said she believes there is a lot of work to be done. Bush’s first term seemed to be dominated by foreign policy. She said she’d like to see more focus on domestic issues and an end to partisan bickering.

“We’ve got serious problems in this country and we all have to work together to solve them,” she said.

Kishkunas, a self-described moderate Republican, said he’d like to see a return to fiscal conservatism during the next four years.

He said he would also like to see the Republican-dominated Congress become more assertive, instead of siding with the president as much as it has in the past.

“A lot of good can come from conflict,” he said.