First Person Singular: Election Night 2008

The Tower collected personal accounts of election night 2008 from Catholic University of America students.

On November 4th, 2008 our nation changed forever. That night the Knights of Columbus in conjunction with the College Democrats, College Republicans, and WCUA Radio hosted an election results viewing in the Pryz Food Court.

WCUA broadcast live from the food court in the thick of a crowd that gathered to watch history. As the results came in state by state Colin Schmitt, Kevin Dolan, and myself commentated for those listening over the internet. It was exhilarating as we talked about the results just as we had been watching on TV for so many years. One by one from East to West the states went blue, red, some went from red to blue. There were cheers and jeers from the crowd. Behind the WCUA Banner, we sat and rattled off numbers as ABC, CNN, FOX, and dozens of other news sources put them up. We had our own map too!

But by 9 p.m. EST it was clear that John McCain would not be in for the upset victory some had hoped for. And by 11 p.m. EST, Barack Obama was elected the 44th President of these United States. There were a lot of sad faces, a lot of raw emotion that night. I‘ll admit, I was sad to see the guy my friends and I hoped would make it, go down in such a large defeat.

There were tears and cheers that night, but in the end we had been on the radio for 5 hours and sleep was coming fast. We watched history as it happened, and it is something we will all never forget.

-Chris Pierno, Class of 2011

With the epic opportunity to be in D.C. during one of the most exciting moments in my modern history, there was no option for my roommates and I but to head downtown.  In typical Irish-Catholic fashion, Mary Margaret, Jenni, Meghan, Beth, Courtney, Kathryn and I wound up at Fado‘s in Chinatown.  Nestled in a back booth, we sipped on Strong Bow and Magner‘s, while the votes trickled in. With the bar cleaved in two, one side Democrat and the other Republican, the evening was filled with boos and reciprocal cheers from either side. As each state‘s projection came into CNN, the excitement heightened. Every time an Obama state was announced, high fives and cheers went around the bar. Our table went into a fit of clapping and whooping as Iowa‘s Democratic conclusion was announced–Jenni was the only Iowan in the bar!  Paying our tab and piling onto the Metro, we were sure the race would not be over until the wee hours of the morning. The Metro was eerily quiet.  It was as if no one underground realized the epic battle raging above. However, the Metro doors at Brookland opened to elated “Obama“ chants!

-Christina Shaw, Class of 2012

I woke up around 5a.m. from a phone call from my father. He told me Dixville Notch, NH’s midnight votes went resoundingly for Obama, good sign. I conked out again. I met up with the rest of the College Dems at CUA at 11. We took off for Virginia and stopped at a McDonalds before hitting Obama HQ in a nearby shopping mall. We got briefed and sent to a stationing house where we were given our packets by an extremely enthusiastic Kenyan–American organizer. I partnered up with a firefighter named Susanne and we canvassed a quiet Virginia neighborhood armed only with door hangers and our cryptic and questionably stapled address packets. We wrapped our route, said goodbye, and I hopped on another bus to the results party. We made it to the party at the Hilton in McLean, Virginia after Vermont and Kentucky were called. The floor gradually became crowded and stuffy from the lights on the news cameras. I grabbed some free food while the results rolled in. I saw Terry McAuliffe sneak in through the press’ door, which was a little strange.

The room freaked out when Ohio went blue. We all started chanting “Yes we can!” The victorious Virginia candidate spoke, and there was cheering. I hopped on the orange line to get back to my apartment before Virginia was called (I had classes in the morning). The Metro was oddly quiet that night. My roommate broke the silence with a cell phone call after East Falls Church. Virginia had gone blue and Barack was over the top. I flouted society’s rules and did a visceral twirl around a poll in the empty Metro Car and cheered. After I transferred to the green line, I could hear cheering at each stop. Yes, we did.

-Bill Pzedpelski, Class of 2009

On election night I sat in my dorm room and watched the University at Buffalo Bulls defeat the Miami University Red Hawks in a college football game on ESPNU. I drank a decaf coffee and ate cheerios before going to bed at eleven, all the while silently reciting the last lines of Book Five of Paradise Lost in my head. Dreading the news I knew would be revealed in the morning, I, like the seraph Abdiel before a rebelling Satan, prepared to turn my back with retorted scorn on an alien nation I would no longer call my own. It was enough, I presume, to have gotten me through what should have been a very restless night otherwise.

-Adam Nettina, Class of 2011

My name is Andrew Stillerman and I am studying abroad in Sevilla, Espana and I am a politics minor. I went to a party at a bar hosted by the “Democrats Abroad“ with other students in my program. The program has a strong following in Spain with both Americans and Europeans alike. From my interactions with the Spanish people in Sevilla they were overwhelmingly supportive of Barack Obama. Upon news of every state that Barack won, the entire bar erupted with cheers. And on the announcement that Barack was to be the President, many of the females at the bar broke down in tears. I was talking with two students from the Netherlands and discussed American foreign and domestic policy in which they were also overwhelmingly supportive of Barack. It was interesting to compare their socialist democracy and how America appears to be heading towards that path. They were alarmed at the cost of education in the U.S. as they pay a few hundred EUROS for a year at the state-run universities. There are no private institutions. Although I voted for John McCain, I believe, from talking with the students from the Netherlands and Spain, that Obama will greatly improve our global perception as they see Obama as a change from the eight years of foreign policy turmoil.

-Andrew Stillerman, Class of 2010

Election night I was studying in the Pryz for another one of Vadim‘s awesome chemistry tests.  This was a crucial test so I had to work diligently, but I found myself making frequent excuses to walk by the cafe to check for any updates. I felt like the states were taking an eternity to get in their results. As I noticed that Obama won Vermont (no shocker there) I walked back into the study bubble to work on electron configurations. It was getting late, my friend and I had gotten to that delirious point of studying where singing an old school Sugar Ray song seemed like the funniest thing in the world; and then my phone rang.

My older sister was shouting to me and I could hear a crowd in the background, “We Won! We Won! Go watch CNN!!!“ she cried. I ran into the cafe and jumped with joy when I saw Obama had secured the lead. I shouted some more and when I hung up with my sister I realized I was in a room of Republicans and they all looked like they were going to cry (That somehow made the victory even sweeter). Back at Conaty later that night there were cars driving by with people hanging out of the windows shouting in victory with their horns blaring. That was when I realized I was actually in DC on an election night that will go down in history.  I did not go to the White House to party it up because I knew Vadim wouldn‘t hold back on this test, but none the less I still felt like I witnessed history.

-Abigail Schrang, Class of 2012

The atmosphere was just like a huge pit had grown in your stomach, and you didn‘t know what was going to happen, and you couldn‘t sit down and you had to be on your feet and you could feel the excitement running through your body. And then the disappointment and the stun faces looked on as Colin Schmidt and WCUA called this election for Barack Obama.

-Colin Schmidt, Class of 2011

On election night I went to sleep at 9 o‘clock for a 6 a.m. practice.  I awoke in the morning to find out that a county took one more step toward communism.

-John Tull, Class of 2012

On November 4, 2008, I awoke with a start at 6:30 a.m., two hours before my alarm was set to go off. Election Day had me so anxious that I skipped breakfast and hopped on the first Metro I could. The hour-long commute to my hometown in Maryland felt like centuries. Obama and McCain‘s faces stared at me from almost every seat, plastered on newspapers, magazines and t-shirts. One older woman that must have been my grandma‘s age sported a full dress suit, bright red lipstick and a striking Obama baseball cap. I smiled, thinking, “Nowhere but D.C.“
When I got off the Metro at Shady Grove, Maryland, I saw that I was wrong. Everywhere I turned, there were signs, bumper stickers - I even saw a four year old decked out in McCain gear! Talk about over-advertising.
By the time I got to the poll, located at my old high school, I was overwhelmed. All the hours spent watching the debates (and SNL), reading Newsweek and getting into political scuffs with my friends felt distant and unreal. What if I had come to the wrong conclusion? What if I voted for a tyrant? Or an idiot? What if the wrong man won?

As I waited in line, I noticed how happy people looked as they left with their stickers and peace of mind. When I got to the voting booth, I felt like I was taking the SAT all over again. McCain or Obama? I ignored my inclination to type in the name “Seymour Butz“ and went with my gut feeling, clicking on the name of the man I trusted the future of our country with, hoping I made the right choice.
Later, in the bustling common room of Flather, as I watched Barack Obama make a most gracious, inspiring speech, I knew I had picked the right guy.

-Christina Wolfgram, Class of 2012

The buzz of light conversation filled the air as the pedestrians around me shuffled to get to their location.  I shifted, somewhat irritably, tired of waiting in line.  Next to me Evan seemed fine.  It had, luckily, been a short metro ride to get here.  But this was it.  I had spent all day anticipating this moment, going back and forth between my final decisions.  All of these other people in line, perhaps even Evan, they had their decision made by now.  But me, I was waiting until the last minute.  I had spoken about coming here with my classmates.  I had even spoken about coming here with the fourth graders I student teach.  Nevertheless, here I was.  Waiting in a line that I would only be willing to wait in on this particular date: November 4th, 2008.  This was the day I had been waiting for since at least Monday: the day Ben and Jerry’s was giving away free ice cream scoops to all voters.

Initially my anxiety overtook me.  I had voted by absentee ballot and little did I know that a sticker that clearly stipulated “I Voted” was a requirement for free ice cream.  Alas, my hands almost started shaking with the thought that I would be denied my right to free ice cream on the basis that I had no sticker.  Or maybe that was just the free Starbucks coffee.

Perhaps it was luck, negligence, or maybe even fate, but the lady behind the bar at Ben and Jerry’s refused not my request for my personal craving at the moment: Phish Food ice cream.

Regardless of the difficulty I had in making my decision, I instantly applauded myself upon that first spoonful.  It was as though Jesus had descended from Heaven, looked me straight in the eye and declared to me: “Yes, Gerard…you are my chosen disciple.”

Apparently inspired by my decision, Evan also selected the same flavor as I and we celebrated our rewards for casting our ballots.  Indeed, this was the greatest Election Day ever.

Oh yeah, and apparently Obama won the election. I guess that’s a big deal.

-Gerard Visco, Class of 2010

Tears, hugs, smiles and drinks flowed between the Columbia Heights, U Street, White House corridor in Northwest Washington, D.C. on election night.
By 9 o’clock, according to the Metropolitan Police Department, several streets in all quadrants of the district were shut down, as locals and those attracted from afar to the seat of federal power reveled in the victory of the first black president in United States history.

This wasn‘t a victory for Democrats or minorities if you spoke to the people who flooded outside of the Frank D. Reeves Municipal Center, near the main drag of U Street. Jennifer Hillacker, a resident of Alexandria, VA and lifelong Republican, spent three hours dancing in the street. Conservative cab driver Anesh Galvik, who hails from Somalia, expressed disappointment that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had ceded victory to president-elect Barack Obama, but said, „I see this man as very transformational, and I‘m glad to see people are made happy by him, but I fear some of his policies.“

Celebrants set up trash-can bands and residents aimed their speakers out of windows lining the streets to the White House. Some played Obama speeches downloaded from the internet, while others spun their favorite record and amped up the crowds assembling down the centers of streets across the city. Chants of “Yes we can“ and “O-Ba-Ma“ floated through the night air, punctuated by gunshots, fireworks and sirens. The chants were picked up, according to reports by throngs in Times Square, Atlanta, Los Angeles, London, Berlin and even towns in China.

-Ben Newell, Class of 2009

Related posts:

1. 2008 Election Morality Taylor Hall As I follow election coverage daily, I...
2. Student Photos from Election Night ...
3. CDs Spend Inauguration Night Cutting a Rug in Style This past weekend has been extremely thrilling for members of...
4. Trustee Says Obama Election May Lead to Black Pope The election of the first African American U.S. president may...
5. Catholic, Youth Voters Help Swing Election Professor: Catholic Voters Saw Economy As Moral Issue Catholic voters,...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.