The College Republicans didn’t cheer as the election results rolled in Tuesday night. They didn’t cry. They just stood in stony-faced silence, arms crossed.
“We got our asses kicked tonight,” said Nick Johnson, chairman of College Republicans.
As of 11 p.m., Republican presidential candidate John McCain only had 135 electoral votes projected by CNN, compared to Democrat Barack Obama’s 220 Obama won New York’s 31 electoral votes handily, with 77 percent of precincts were reporting. When the unofficial counting was done, Obama had racked up 334 electoral votes to McCain’s 144.
The outlook for Republican Dale Sweetland was just as grim. Sweetland ended the night as the unofficial loser to Democrat Dan Maffei for New York’s 25th District Congressional seat. That was a spot left vacant by 20-year incumbent Republican Jim Walsh, who was retiring.
“I’m sad and disappointed,” Johnson said. “College Republicans, Republicans around the country are going to have to take a deep breath.”
About 20 College Republicans spent the evening at the DoubleTree Hotel at the Republican victory party. Some left early out of disappointment. Some of legal age headed to the cash bar.
The group had campaigned for McCain, Sweetland and other local candidates by making calls and going door-to-door. But the College Republicans’ effort wasn’t wasted, Johnson said.
“Lose or win, we’ve got to start preparing for the next two years,” he said. “If you win, you celebrate a little bit. If you lose, you rest on your laurels a bit and then get ready.”
(Megan Saucke is a junior newspaper journalism and political science major.)
-30-
