As media called the presidential race on Tuesday, Americans fired off text messages at a record pace. AT&T today reported that in the hour following the announcement, text messaging traffic across its network surged about 44 percent – the highest spike in company history.

Tuesday night’s jump in text messaging volume smashed previous spikes in text messaging reported by AT&T. For example, the peak transactions per second following Tuesday’s announcement was significantly higher than the peak transactions per second logged for the most recent New Year’s Eve, a day that consistently ranks among the busiest texting days for AT&T.

“The spike on Tuesday night rang true for us,” said Mark Collins, vice president of Voice and Data Services, AT&T Mobility & Consumer Markets. “Texting has become so valuable a communication tool that it is how people are sharing thoughts and information and connecting with each other in even the most important moments.”

A recent Nielsen study reported that U.S. consumers now use their cell phones for text messaging more often than for talking. In third quarter 2008 earnings, AT&T reported that more than 64 billion text messages crossed its network.