JUDGMENT DAY

By the time Nov. 2 arrived, students had long anticipated the few brief hours that could either vindicate or void their sacrifices on the campaign trail. The results came quickly—and painfully for some.

Undergraduates headed out to the Kerry rally in Boston’s Copley Square, where drizzling skies and a chilly wind reflected an increasingly cloudy mood in the Democratic camp. Performances by the Black Eyed Peas and others briefly buoyed the crowd, but spirits dwindled as the night wore on. By midnight, a defeat was all but certain.

Kerry-supporter Michael A. Codini ’08 placed politics ahead of academics for the night.

“I have an Ec 10 midterm tomorrow I haven’t studied for one bit, but I consider the election more important,” he said at the rally.

Back at the IOP in Cambridge, the climate was considerably warmer as Harvard College Republicans gathered to watch poll returns roll in.

“There were about two dozen pizzas and we had Fox News turned on and we pretty much celebrated together,” Silvestri says.

In Washington, D.C., several recent Harvard graduates were celebrating Bush’s victory in style at the Republican National Committee’s election-night party in the Ronald Reagan Building.

“At Harvard it seems like being a Republican is evil,” Elizabeth A. Sykes ’04, a Bush-Cheney campaign staffer, said at the event. Behind her, an enormous projection screen flashed the latest numbers from Fox News. “To come here, to be surrounded by so many people who believe in the president like I do—it’s refreshing. It’s so inspirational.”

For those betting on the donkeys, however, the disappointment was palpable.

“People started getting more and more depressed. Those who could drink were drinking heavily,” says Andy J. Frank ’05, who gathered with fellow Kerry supporters at the Cambridge Common bar on election night. Frank, the former president of the Harvard College Democrats, estimates he spent up to 20 hours a week on the campaign in the fall.

“It was just the worst feeling. I just wanted to sleep for the next five days,” he says. “It was one of the most depressing moments of my life.”

A fellow campaign worker, Gregory M. Schmidt ’06, has since succeeded Frank in the College Dems’ top spot. Schmidt insists the election didn’t sour him on politics.

“I came out feeling we’ve got a tough fight ahead of us. I think we came really close. I think the lesson is we have to work harder,” Schmidt says.

AFTER THE STORM