Minutes ago, thousands of Philadelphians gathered at City Hall in celebration of Obama’s win brought out the confetti.

Moments before, they chanted “Move Bush, get out the way.” Earlier, the crowd — which seems to be primarily made up of Penn students — chanted “Yes, he did.”

83 percent of voters in Philadelphia County voted for Barack Obama yesterday. And they have taken to the streets in celebration. Strangers are hugging and giving high fives. It’s all about the brotherly love in Philadelphia and among Penn students tonight.

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DP reporter Colin Kavanaugh reports from Chicago that the city is celebrating Obama’s win and that large groups are crowding the streets.

Michigan Avenue and other streets near Grant Park, where Obama held his victory party and gave his acceptance speech, are all packed with people.

Police on horses were prepared to quell any riots or violence, but the celebrations have been peaceful. People have been taking pictures with the horses and petting them.

About an hour ago I got a tip that there were a ton of police cars outside the DP offices at 40th and Walnut so I ran downstairs to check it out. The police cars turned out to be nothing but what I did encounter was a column of students — at least 300 — parading down the Walnut Street sidewalk cheering and screaming. I followed the crowd as it turned left onto 41st street. The Beige Block residents came out onto their porches to see what all the ruckus was about; as soon as most of them figured it out they grabbed a pair of shoes and joined in.

The growing mass turned onto Spruce Street and then came in by the Tampons. Students streamed out of the high rises forgetting Penn cards and cell phones. They stopped to hug each other and scream. Some brought drum sticks and started pounding out a beat on the lamp posts and trash cans.

But campus wasn’t enough. The mass of people began making their way down Locust Walk. Allied Barton guards cheered them on. I thought the parade would stop on College Green but the crowd had far too much energy for that. The column of people, which must have reached a few thousand by that point, turned onto Walnut by 34th street and began marching to City Hall. Cheers of “yes we can!” rang out and the roar of the crowd rose as we met up with the Drexel students. People filled the streets; cars were stopped in their tracks but seemed content to honk and join in the fun.

This is the most incredible thing I have ever seen students do — it was like the excitement after Phillies win on steroids. One girl said to me on Spruce Street, “It restored my faith in America.”

Stay tuned for updates from our reporters, photographers and videographers, who are following the crowd all the way down to City Hall.

More after the jump!

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Sen. Barack Obama will be the 44th president of the United States.

CNN has just called the election in favor of the Illinois Democrat, making Obama the country’s first black president.

Obama defeated Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) after a highly contested election season. Tonight, Obama won a number of critical swing states — including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio —after pulling ahead in both state and nationwide polls during the final weeks of the campaign. McCain’s loss of Ohio early in the night made a win virtually impossible.

CHICAGO, Ill. — The crowd is as varied as the coalition Barack Obama has put together.

Young, old, black, white, Latino, Asian, men women. Every person is feeding off another’s energy.

The big announcement may be very close.

After talking to a Political Science class in front of Van Pelt, Gutmann heads to Steinberg-Dietrich Hall to cast her vote.

Between 20-25 people have gathered at the College Republican watch party, located at an off-campus house near 41st and Locust streets.

As the group watched the results on Fox News, Communications director for the College Republicans Michael Tate said, “this event is one of the biggest events we’re having… it’s too early to call but everybody’s pumped up right now.”

He expects the number of party attendees to double or triple after 9 p.m., once everyone is done working at the polls.