The enthusiasm was not uncommon on a day like no other in American politics, a scramble of primaries and caucuses that went coast-to-coast - and beyond, to the South Pacific island of American Samoa.
It was a day in which more people than ever had a say in who would be left standing to wage the long campaign for the presidency.
And it produced democracy in some of its most dramatic forms.
In Alaska, battered by brutal cold, voters trudged through a foot of new snow in some places to get to caucuses at convention centers, middle schools, a radio station - and at least one Chinese restaurant.
In Lower Manhattan, voters in the New York primary elbowed their way past euphoric New York Giants fans, through tons of fluttering confetti, to get to polling places near the Super Bowl victory parade.
In Virginia, voters were so eager they turned up at polling places across the state and deluged the Board of Elections with phone calls - and the Virginia primary isn't for another week.
It was the apex, so far, of an election season in which unusually wide-open party races converged with markedly increased voter interest and the most diverse set of finalists ever.
In the words of Jessica Pomey, a 29-year-old Obama voter from Oakland, Calif.: "Politics used to be something you didn't talk about. Now it's everywhere, in hair salons, everywhere. It's part of the conversation."
The geographic scale was unprecedented for a primary season - and, in a way, bigger than most general elections, which are fought mostly in a few battleground states.
Voters in lines all over the country found themselves thinking about the intricate details of healthcare proposals, or the delicate state of Iraq, or which Republican matched up best against which Democrat.
"I've been voting since I was 18, but this vote is one of the more important ones because of the impact it will have on a national level," said Tessica Mitchell, 23, who voted on an enclosed porch at a family farm in Meridian, Okla.
