The wholly unpredicted landslide for Barack Obama last night was, needless to say, completely exhilirating on the face of it. Even more exciting, though, are the detailed returns. 40 of 50 wards voted for Obama, some by over 90%. The Obama campaign did an amazing job turnout on the south side, with over 15,000 voters going to the polls in many wards — as befits someone whose start in Chicago politics was in registering 100,000 voters.

The election also demonstrates Cook County’s continued ability to dominate the state Democratic party — some 80% of Obama’s votes statewide were from Cook. Obama’s ability to carry the suburbs and exurbs added most of the rest of that margin. (Interestingly, half of Lake County’s primary votes were Democratic–perhaps indicative of the Democratic trend there. Sprawlburb southwest DuPage and Will may remain staunchly Republican, but slow-growth Lake looks to be following the Democratic trend familiar to most mature suburbs.)

Voter turnout in north lakefront wards was middling, but unfortunately turnout suffered somewhat in West Town-Logan Square wards — about 5,000 votes total in the 1st, 32nd, and 35th wards. This was despite some notable campaign activity and events in the area. Organizing alienated, apathetic (even if sympathetic) people in high-churn, gentrifying (and thus highly disorganized) neighborhoods is a challenge I’ve yet to fully wrap my head around. But if we can do it, we’ve got a great shot in November.