Oregon Public Broadcasting

Democrats in Idaho don't often get the chance to celebrate political victories. So when they do have a reason to party, they tend to do it big.

So it was last night as Democrats in several Idaho cities toasted President Barack Obama‚s inauguration. Inland Northwest Correspondent Doug Nadvornick went to one soiree in Coeur d'Alene.

Well before the party was scheduled to start, people like Hilary Chick were streaming in. And they were sharing what they felt when they watched President Obama take the oath of office.

Hilary Chick: "Shock and awe, to take from a Bush comment. Except that this time it was the right kind of shock and awe."

Women took turns dancing cheek to cheek with a life-sized cardboard cutout of Barack Obama in a white tux.

Tony Luzzo sat with his wife, wondering what the new president would be able to accomplish.

Tony Luzzo: "I hope he can do one-fifth of what he said he was gonna do. I got great hope. I hope this bipartisanship really works. We need that."

Luzzo and others said they're tired of the divisiveness in government.

One woman said she liked Obama's message that there's no more red states versus blue states. There's just the United States.