The women of The View wore their hearts on their sleeves Wednesday.

“Last night history was made when Barack Obama was voted 44th President of the United States,” said host Whoopi Goldberg, leading into the separate reactions from each of the ABC’s show’s panelists as emotions built and even spilled over.

Goldberg also made the frank admission that her mother’s reaction when Whoopi asked if she ever thought she’d live to see an African-American president not only was surprising but threw Whoopi off balance for the rest of the night.

“No,” said Goldberg’s mother. “I never thought this day would come in my lifetime.”

“I could put my suitcase down, finally,” she said.

Hasselbeck’s Reaction

The show’s executive producer and so-called “mother hen,” Barbara Walters, turned to the politically conservative member of the panel, Elisabeth Hasselbeck (who actively campaigned for GOP vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin), and said, “All eyes are going to be on you. How do you feel?”

Hasselbeck talked about watching the election results with her daughter Grace, 3, and Grace’s looking up and asking who won and who lost. “No one lost,” Hasselbeck said she told her child. “Seriously, today is a victory for this country.”

Citing the fact that 14 million more voters showed up at the polls than had ever turned out before, Hasselbeck said that she, too, was caught up in the excitement. “I will get in a long line of supporters … for this president,” she said.

Interjected her liberal foil, Joy Behar: “Are you saying I was right all along?”

But it was panel member Sherri Shepherd, who described how it felt to share with her 3-year-old son Jeffrey the enormity of what took place Tuesday, whose emotions ran the highest. Emphasizing how it now felt for there to be “No Limitations” for people of color, Shepherd could barely say the words.

Instead, she dissolved into tears of disbelief, hurt - and joyfulness.

RELATED GALLERY:
• The Obamas spill on family life on the cover of PEOPLE!
RELATED ARTICLE:
• 25 Questions for Barack Obama

Source:www.People.com

Rosie O’Donnell kept her word after promising not to blog in August, but now she is back with a vengeance - making a disparaging comparison of vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin to Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

Continuing her haiku-like writing style, O’Donnell, 46, takes a swipe at former co-host Hasselbeck, with whom she famously clashed on The View, by describing the duo as stalkers in stilettos.

“sarah p - elisabeth h
identical cousins
women who hunt in high heels
gives one pause”

Still to be revealed are O’Donnell’s thoughts on the pregnancy of Palin’s teen daughter, Bristol. Last December, citing the pregnancy of Jamie Lynn Spears, O’Donnell announced it was “never a good idea” to have a baby as a teenager.

Her 256-word blog posting also reveals how she has “limped back” to Pilates now that all four of her children are at school fulltime and, with the early fall foliage color change along the Hudson River, O’Donnell remembers the victims of the impending 9/11 anniversary.

Meet the season 12 cast of The View.

Look familiar? Well, that’s because it is.

Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Sherri Shepherd, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Joy Behar will all be back to co-host the ABC daytime show when it returns Sept. 2 after a summer hiatus. But, for the first time, the five ladies have been photographed together. (Remember, Shepherd was a late addition to season 11 - and was never part of any of the show’s early photos.)

The photo shoot took place in New York - and the cohosts had plenty to do in between frames. The women danced to Tina Turner’s hit “Proud Mary” and Janet Jackson tunes. (Shepherd is a huge Janet fan.)

Between takes Behar also worked on solving a New York Times crossword puzzle, while Shepherd caught up on e-mail and Goldberg practiced the music and script for her role in Xanadu on Broadway.

Video courtesy NBC

Kathie Lee Gifford came out for her second day as fourth-hour co-host of the Today show Tuesday, and said, “Everyone’s reaction around the country was so nice … Thank you, America.”

Indeed, for the most part, the return of Gifford to daytime TV on Monday was largely met with open arms - though, as has long been the case with the personality, there were detractors. Strong ones.

While admitting that viewers either love her or hate her, Post critic Adam Buckman finally threw up his hands and conceded that he “had a feeling that TV in general had suddenly improved, now that Kathie Lee Gifford had returned.”

His News counterpart, David Hinckley, was polite without gushing, though the headline above his review did: “Kathie Lee’s Clearly the Woman of the Hour.”

Even The New York Times’s Alessandra Stanley seemed brightened by her return, saying Gifford settled “sunnily” next to co-host Hoda Kotb. “It was as if she had never left morning television.”

The Detractors

Beyond Gifford’s Gotham City home base, the view wasn’t so rosy. The Toronto Star’s Vinay Menon, who likened Gifford’s goody-goody image to Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s, carped about the lack of chemistry between Kathie Lee and Hoda.

But it was The Washington Post’s venerable Tom Shales who really went to town. Calling the Today’s fourth hour “The View for dummies,” the critic expressed his dislike for Gifford rooted in “her assumption that her life is every bit as important to us as it is to her. But that would be categorically impossible.”

Last week, between the announcement of her return and her actual debut, Gifford. 54, told PEOPLE she was ready to face media scrutiny. “I can handle it better now, and I’m wiser,” she said. “At my age, you give up your thighs but you gain wisdom.”

Video courtesy ABC
Michelle Obama made sure there were no fireworks while making her debut on The View Wednesday. Some political observers had predicted the wife of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama might clash with the show’s famously conservative co-host, Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

In fact, Obama, 44, quashed any chance of that early on - reaching out and clasping hands with Hasselbeck, 31.

“This girl, she’s solid,” said Obama, whose husband appeared on the show in March. “She’s got great kids, she’s a great mom, she’s funny. So I can disagree with her on a whole range of points. We can still come back again tomorrow.”

“It is now my signature bump, but I’m not that hip,” Obama said. “I got it from the young staff.”

The conversation was free-ranging, from whether she wears pantyhose (she doesn’t) to whether Barack still takes out the trash (he doesn’t). The talk also touched upon Obama’s sometimes-controversial image, with the clip shown of her saying, “For the first time in my adult life, I’m really proud of my country.” Critics had contended it meant she’s not patriotic.

Obama said the quote - which is usually reprinted without the word “really” - has been misinterpreted. “I’m proud of my country without a doubt,” she said. Earlier this month, First Lady Laura Bush defended Obama to ABC News. Obama said she has since sent her a thank-you note, which she agonized over.

She was definitely a hit with her View co-hosts. “If you’ve got some free time, come back with us,” Walters told her.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck and her NFL hubby stepped out together on the pink carpet at the N.Y.C. premiere of Made of Honor Monday night.

“It’s a date-night for us tonight,” a pink-clad Hasselbeck told PEOPLE, posing proudly next to her color-coordinated husband Tim.

But while her own romance is still going strong, the View star offered words for comfort to her former co-host, Star Jones, who recently filed for divorce from her husband Al Reynolds.

“I’m thinking of her,” Hasselbeck said.

“Right now, with two kids, one 3 and one 5 months, a little walk for ice cream with the kids is perfectly romantic,” she said. “When they are falling asleep in the stroller and %26#91;we can%26#93; just take in the city together.”

Just six months after the birth of her second child, The View’s Elisabeth Hasselbeck is ready to show off her bikini body.

“Body image has nothing to do with scale numbers, it’s how you feel inside,” Hasselbeck, who turns 31 this month, told Fitness magazine. “This is the first time I’ve felt free from that, because I am working out in a way where I feel so strong that there’s no room for those doubts.”

She adds: “I finally told myself … ‘I’ve got some curves, I’ve got a bubble butt, but I don’t mind, because it’s what powers me forward when I run.’ ”

According to Fitness Editor-in-Chief Denise Brodey, “Elisabeth said, ‘I feel like I’m an athlete again.’”

Her goal wasn’t to lose weight, she says, she just wanted to eat healthier and have more energy. So the magazine had a nutritionist design a wheat-free (Hasselbeck has celiac disease), energy-packed plan featuring lean protein and vegetables, along with nutrition bars and nuts for snacks.

Sounds like The View’s Elisabeth Hasselbeck has a budding linguist on her hands.

Her son Taylor Thomas, born just three months ago, “loves words that begin with the letter B,” Hasselbeck told PEOPLE Tuesday at J.C. Penney’s launch of the American Living clothing line. “I can’t come up with any more. I’m looking through the dictionary just to come up with new ‘B’ words. I’m like bubble, buffalo, bulldozer, bumble bee!”

The talk show host arrived at the N.Y.C. event with her husband, Arizona Cardinals quarterback Tim Hasselbeck - and showed no sign of the baby weight.

“I’ve been working out like a crazy women!” she admitted. “Lots of hard work. I’m trying.”

So does that mean there’s drama on the homefront - perhaps, say, a bad case of sibling rivalry? Nah. “They get along. The first person she wants to see in the morning is him,” Hasselbeck said. “I will be holding his head up and he’s looking around admiring his big sister. Hopefully one day he can return the favor of all the headbutts she’s giving him.”

Video courtesy ABC
The ladies of The View are hangin’ tough. Following PEOPLE’s exclusive news over the weekend that New Kids on the Block are planning a comeback, the morning chatterers couldn’t help but get excited. For your viewing pleasure, we present PEOPLE.com readers with Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd’s rendition of an NKOTB classic. Enjoy!