By RUSS OLIVO

WOONSOCKET — She was fascinated by his life story and she followed his campaign more closely than any other presidential contest she can remember. And when Election Day came, Denise Caniglia, like so many other Americans, marked her ballot for Democrat Barack Obama and his message of hope and change.

“I think he is hope for the future,” said Caniglia, an office worker from Woonsocket who was out running errands Wednesday.  “Just to hear him talk, where he came from, how he grew up. I just think he’s going to do a lot of good, so I’m very excited.
Caniglia’s favorable reaction to Obama’s overwhelming victory over Republican rival John McCain was hardly unique the day after the election. There was plenty of residual Obamania on the streets of the city.
“I think it’s fabulous,” said Rebecca Henriott, who was on her way into City Hall to apply for a job. “We’ve made history with a black president. I’m from a biracial family. My father was black and he was very political. I just wish he were still alive to see it.”
A Woonsocket resident, Henriott said she grew up in Georgia, where “it’s another world” for African-Americans and other ethnic minorities. She said the central message of Obama’s triumph is that the doors of opportunity have opened wider for everyone, regardless of race.
“It’s a satisfying feeling to think there is a chance for everybody,” she said.
In a trend that mirrored countless other jurisdictions across the country, the historic presidential race drew record-high numbers to the polls in the city. The uncertified returns showed that 59.8 percent of the city’s 21,672 registered voters cast ballots in the election, a figure Linda Fontaine, manager of the Board of Canvassers, said is roughly twice that of most elections she can recall.
Woonsocket, which is generally thought of as a Democratic town, proved it on Election Day, with 64.9 percent of voters favoring Obama, a far greater margin than the national popular vote.
A total of 599 of those who cast ballots were previously unregistered until moments before voting. Workers at City Hall said the new voters, many of them Latinos and other minorities, were ushered into the building by volunteers from the Association for Community Reform Now, or ACORN, a national voter advocacy group that has been linked to efforts to promote Obama.
But some found little cause for celebration in the results of the election.
“I really don’t know what this guy is going to change,” said Ronald Servizi, the head custodian at City Hall. “I’d be happy if he could deliver a quarter of the things he said.”
Servizi says Obama’s campaign promises were too numerous and poorly defined to give him much faith that his presidency will bear much tangible fruit. And as Obama traversed the campaign trail making all those promises, the national media failed to subject him to the same level of scrutiny as it did McCain.
 “Obama was Teflon with the media,” says Servizi. “I’m canceling my subscription to the New York Times.”
Joan McKenzie of Lincoln said she could not vote for Obama because she does not agree with his support of “on-demand abortion.” A devout Christian, McKenzie said she and other members of her church, the New Life Worship Center in Smithfield, have been praying every day that God will bring “wisdom and guidance” to Obama on the abortion issue.
“I’m a pro-life person,” she said. “I went for the man that voted the values I had. I think you have to start there. If you compromise your values, what else will you compromise?
Roland Beaudet agreed.
“I was somewhat disappointed,” said Beaudet, who was out job-hunting on Main Street. “From a religious standpoint, honestly speaking, as a Catholic, I cannot vote for anybody who is pro-choice.”
But the only choice Pat Kelly was worried about was the one many of her customers are apparently making these days — between buying candy bars or putting gasoline in their cars. Kelly runs a vending machine business that’s feeling the pinch of high gas prices and the economic slump.
The wholesale price of a box of candy bars has nearly doubled since January, she said. And every time she hauls a load to restock a machine, her travel expenses increasingly cut into profits. She’s still not sure which of the candidates was the best choice for her bottom line, but she figured change is what the nation needed and McCain seemed to represent too little of it. So she voted for Obama.
It hardly sounds like a ringing endorsement, but about the worst thing Kelly could say about him was this: “I think he can talk a dog off a meat truck.” McCain, on the other hand, seems to be in the twilight of his years. He’s had skin cancer and Kelly worries about his longevity. The next heartbeat in the line of succession belonged to his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
And that was the last straw, said Kelly.
“I don’t have any faith in Sarah Palin.”
For Carol Bacon, Obama was the most exciting presidential candidate to come along in many years, and she couldn’t have been more pleased to cast her vote in favor of him.
“I’m extremely happy,” she said while out shopping with her husband, Russell. “It’s the first time in a long time that I was anxious to vote early.”
Diane Koback, a city treasury clerk, broke ranks with her ancestors Tuesday. Her grandfather, Wilfred Laferriere, was the head of the state GOP during the Eisenhower era, but she went for Obama.
“I listened to his speech last night and I thought he was extremely well-spoken,” she said. “I think he’ll make a good president.”