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Though votes are still being counted out west – and there are provisional and absentee ballots outstanding – CBS News is estimating that the final turnout in the 2008 election will be 133 million or more Americans, many of whom endured hours-long waits Tuesday to cast their ballots.

133 million votes would mean that 57 percent of the voting age population cast a ballot, CBS News estimates, up from 55 percent in 2004 and 50 percent in 2000.

The percentage turnout in this election is unlikely to be the highest in American history – as the Associated Press notes, the turnout rate in 1960's presidential election between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon was 63.8 percent.

On May 10th, the Barack Obama campaign will launch what it is trumpeting as an "unprecedented 50-state voter registration and mobilization drive" called Vote For Change.

In a statement put out by the Obama campaign this afternoon, deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand suggested the campaign hoped to push turnout in the general election above 50 percent.

“We’ve already seen amazing new enthusiasm and involvement over the course of this campaign, and now we’re taking that excitement to the next level in all 50 states,” said Hildebrand. “We’ve seen too many elections where turnout was less than 50 percent. At this critical time in our history, we know we can do better—this year and beyond.”

In an interview with National Journal's Linda Douglass, meanwhile, Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, said that race won't be a problem for Obama in November.

Why? Because "the vast, vast majority of voters who would not vote for Barack Obama in November based on race are probably firmly in John McCain's camp already," according to Plouffe.

He also said that the Democratic Party would coalesce around the nominee after the long and sometimes acrimonious nominating battle.

"...we seem to forget history," Plouffe said. "There's always hard feelings, and then the party comes together. And I think everyone ought to take a deep breath here and understand that the Democratic nominee is going to get the majority of Democratic voters."