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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknifers gathered at Surly Bobs Tuesday night to watch history unfold as Americans turned out in record numbers to vote in the first African-American president.

As of Thursday, Democrat Barack Obama had won 364 electoral college votes to become the president-elect of the United States, beating Republican presidential hopeful John McCain who garnered 162 electoral votes.

Obama is said by most to herald great change in the United States. City councillor Paul Falvo said the effect the charismatic president-elect will have on the world is already being felt.

"My wife was up listening to Obama's victory speech," he said. "It shows how he's really captured the hearts and minds of people who would not otherwise be engaged."

All the same, the councillor said people need to be careful of their optimism towards Obama.

"As kids growing up in Canada we get inundated with all this 'school house rocks' and how great America is - and I hear him talking, and for the first time I believe it," he said.

"But what do we really know about his policies? He's one guy and you can't expect one person to revolutionize everything."

Therese Boullard, director of the NWT Human Rights Commission, said Obama's election is going to change the tone of the presidency.

"Obama has a very different approach and style than George W. Bush so how (the White House) addresses international issues will definitely change," she said. "Obama has a charisma and appeal that is very refreshing internationally."

McCain supporter Andreas Tesfaye, 37, was disappointed to see him lose but said the way Obama ran his campaign will be remembered for a long time.

"Obama only won 52 per cent of the popular vote so it was a lot closer than people think," he said. "Obama galvanized two groups of people who didn't necessarily vote in the past and that's African Americans and youth," he said. "They pushed early voting and it was a smart thing to do.

"People will talk about that campaign for a very long time. The way they used the Internet and got people out who normally don't vote as much, it was incredible."

Tesfaye said his biggest concern is how Obama will be perceived on the international stage.

"It's going to be a major issue," he said. "My concern is the world is going to look at him as Jimmy Carter. You went from having a kind of bad-ass cop to having, in a world view, a nice municipal guy who will give you a ticket but won't ever call in the SWAT team because he doesn't have it. The problem is how is the world going to take him."