From an Internet chatroom in China to Arnold Schwarzenegger's boyhood home in Austria, the world marvelled today at a uniquely American political triumph with more suspense than a Hollywood script.
After partying the night away, dignitaries and admirers in Schwarzenegger's home region celebrated his California gubernatorial victory by claiming him anew as one of their own.
In a local bar, dozens mingled over a breakfast of scrambled eggs and coffee, breaking into cheers and applause when Schwarzenegger's victory speech - dubbed over into German - was broadcast live on big-screen TVs.
"He's one of us," said Waltraud Klasnic, the governor of Schwarzenegger's home province of Styria. "This is going to push us a little bit more into the foreground on the international stage."
Schwarzenegger's victory led the main morning news bulletins in Russia, where the news broke as Muscovites were waking up and heading for work.
NTV television reported that "the third generation Terminator will lead the state," where it said voters believed in his promises to restore order after blaming outgoing Governor Gray Davis for economic problems.
"Many still associate Iron Arnie with a hero who saves the world from the bad guys," NTV reported from the United States.
In France, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said he had mixed feelings about Schwarzenegger's win, but acknowledged that it was a significant achievement.
"Someone who's a foreigner in his country, who has an unpronounceable name and can become governor of the biggest American state - that's not nothing," he said.
In China, a communist dictatorship that does not elect its leaders and brooks no dissent, several Internet users posted messages on a news commentary board at the popular Web site Sohu.com.
"This cannot be imagined in China," said one, who did not sign the message.
In Japan, television news gave the Hollywood star's victory top billing, underscoring the strong Japanese appetite for US entertainment and politics.
"It's the American dream," said Hideya Sugio, the anchor of the evening news at TBS, a national network.
Erik Aasard, head of the Swedish Institute for North American Studies at the University of Uppsala, said the outcome could be explained only by voter dissatisfaction with the economy.
"The only way to explain this is not so much that Schwarzenegger is an attractive candidate - which he certainly is - but that the voters are enormously dissatisfied with the California administration," Aasard said.
In the Philippines, former actor and ousted President Joseph Estrada urged Schwarzenegger to serve the people by bringing his on-screen heroics to politics.
"The so-called learned people, with all their master's degrees, have no monopoly on leadership," Estrada said while speaking by telephone from his military hospital detention suite. He has been held on corruption charges since being deposed in massive protests two years ago.
The actor's election win dominated radio and TV news headlines in Britain.
Back in Austria, Frank Bogen, a 73-year-old former diplomat, described how he spent the night listening to television updates on the race.
Many here, Bogen said, feel a strong emotional connection to Schwarzenegger, who became a US citizen in 1984.
"He has real friends here," Bogen said. "Even though he's a full-fledged American, he has never denied where he came from."
Schwarzenegger has "a large task ahead of him, and we are confident that he will succeed in bringing California out of the crisis," Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said in a congratulatory message.
"His success, at first in sport, then professional and now political, shows America and the world what good workers Austrians are globally," Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner said.
The breakfast celebration took place in Graz - a historic city in southern Austria just a few miles from Schwarzenegger's boyhood home, Thal.
AP