Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Michael Mayo column: Human triumph, tragedies mark year's most memorable stories.(Column)

Byline: Michael Mayo

Dec. 28--The line outside the voting precinct didn't let up all day. Voters at the C.W. Thomas Recreation Center in Dania Beach came wearing Barack Obama T-shirts and "Change 2008" buttons. Now it was 6:56 p.m. on Election Day, just four minutes until a poll worker would place a chair at the back of the line to signal that nobody else could vote.

Music blared in the streets. The people in this predominantly black neighborhood could sense history on the way. Angela Keith, 23, stood in line with her 5-month-old twins. The infants were in baby carriers on the sidewalk. She lifted them to clear a path for an elderly man in a wheelchair being led to the front of the line. "Nothing could stop me from …