APPhoto Former Oregon Gov. Barbara Roberts, center, celebrates with friends as Barack Obama is declared winner of the presidential race in Portland on Tuesday.

PORTLAND — During the presidential campaign Andrea Lynch went from house to house to register voters to cast their ballot for Barack Obama, worrying at every stop it would not be enough.

The 53-year-old Beaverton elementary school teacher finally stopped worrying when the announcement of Obama’s landslide victory came over a big screen TV at Oregon Democrats’ campaign headquarters after polls closed on the West Coast.

“It’s unbelievable,” Lynch said. “A lot of us were a little afraid it wasn’t going to happen because of the last couple of elections in 2000 and 2004.”

Obama took Oregon’s seven electoral votes, helping him win the White House. With 57 percent of the vote counted he pulled 55 percent to 43 percent for Republican Sen. John McCain.

Fireworks and impromptu street celebrations were reported around the Portland area, where support for Obama was overwhelming, thanks in part to Lynch and others who registered a record number of Democrats.

“I have tears in my eyes tonight,” said Kristin Spear. “This means somebody besides a white male can run this country and it gives hope to the whole world.”

The 39-year-old Portland wardrobe stylist said she had originally supported Sen. Hillary Clinton, but the more she heard Obama, the more she agreed with him.

“I think he’s smart,” she said. “Starting tomorrow worldwide confidence is up.”

Obama visited Oregon during a toughly fought primary. From Portland to Pendleton, he attracted big crowds that embraced his message of change in Washington, building a green economy, bringing troops home from Iraq and fixing a broken health care system.

A statewide Associated Press phone poll of voters the week before election day suggested voters were swayed primarily by the belief Obama was the man to fix a broken economy.

Jessica Ryff, 25, a Portland physician, said Obama’s greatest accomplishment was to engage a whole new segment of the population in the election.

Meghan Mayer, 26, an administrative assistant, said Obama had an “intellectual depth to him,” and could examine issues from “more than one point of view.”