Long after Election Day had turned into election night, a keg party in the basement of a Wheeler St. duplex was turning into a political funeral. A dozen people sat in virtual silence, gathered around a television flashing an election map of the United States presidential race as it turned increasingly red.

Sitting on the couch, watching the returns, Marie Herwig ’05 was having a hard time keeping faith in her candidate, John Kerry. Herwig had spent the day volunteering for the liberal 527 organization Moveon.org, and held out hope Sen. Kerry could win with victories in the states that had yet to be called.

But as minutes ticked by and votes continued to pile up for President Bush, Herwig, who is from Minnetonka, Minn. doubted Kerry could still win. “There’s still hope,” she said, “but it’s diminishing.”

Scenes like this one could be found in every corner of the Macalester community Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning as students tracked poll results in their dorm rooms, in the Campus Center, and in the Hill Ballroom, where a College-sponsored election-watch party was held.

Earlier in the day, the campus was alive with political activity as students, staff, and faculty prepared for election night. Over 100 students gathered on Bateman Plaza around 10 a.m. to hear actors Josh Hartnett and Sharon Stone, and State House Minority Leader Matt Entenza ’83 speak at a Democratic get-out-the-vote rally.

Honking cars could be heard from Snelling Ave. where members of MacDems, including Sara Baum ’07 of Cincinnati, Ohio, held up Kerry-Edwards campaign signs. “My voice will not be here tomorrow morning,” Baum said. She said her professors had cancelled class and encouraged students to vote.

Political science professor Julie Dolan said the election was the “bread and butter, the nirvana,” for people in her field, American politics. “It’s unique, [because it’s] something we do, as Americans, that all happens on one day,” she said on Tuesday.

Dolan said the exit polls are of particular interest to political scientists because they provide valuable demographic information that can be used to test theories within the discipline. “It’s the one time everyone gets together,” she said, “[and] it’s not hypothetical.”

For some international students, Election Day was frustrating. “You feel powerless,” said Ssebbaale Sseremba ’05 of Botswana in the fieldhouse Tuesday afternoon. “The whole world depends on you guys … I just wish the whole world could vote.”

Some people were glad the election was nearing an end. Camilo Artiga ’07 of San Francisco said the best part of his day was playing basketball. “It seems like the whole election is like the consumer culture,” Artiga said, adding he wished people would focus on issues rather than the images of candidates that campaigns try to create.

But regardless of how people felt about the election, most people indicated they would be following the results as they came in. Some watched alone–or almost alone—like Larry Lund, a Facilities Management employee, who said he would be watching the coverage at home with his Chihuahua, Candy.

Aaron Kempema ’06, sitting behind the Information Desk in the Library, juggled the election with homework. “[The election] is not helping me study for my test tomorrow,” he said with disgust, while checking results from the South Dakota Senate race on the Internet.

Mikey McNamara ’05 said he saw about forty Macalester students and alumni in the Minneapolis Hilton at an election party sponsored by the Democratic Farmer Labor Party. “It was a diverse, cool scene,” said McNamara, who attended the event after canvassing for the liberal political group America Coming Together,

As the night wore on, a steady crowd of about a 100 students trickled in and out of the Hill Ballroom, where snacks, board games, and homework served as distractions from the results for many in the heavily Democratic crowd. By 11 p.m., an audible hush had fallen over the room as people began to realize that President Bush was the likely victor.

Many students expressed dismay, and some, such as Riyaz Gayasaddin ’08, of Minot, N.D., said they were surprised by the results of the election. Gayasaddin said he became confident Kerry would win the election after coming to Macalester. “Living in St. Paul, and going to Macalester, you get into that mentality,” he said.

There were some smiles to be found among the sea of somber faces late Tuesday. “I’m glad that Bush won,” said Tyler Schwecke ’08, who was watching with friends on the second floor of Turck Hall. “I just didn’t want to see Kerry win.”

Mac GOP chair Kramer Lawson ’05 said he was relieved Bush had won the election and hoped students would show a level of respect for the President that he feels is oftentimes absent on campus. “I feel a lot better about coming back to campus,” Lawson said over the phone from an election night party sponsored by the Minnesota Republican Party in Minnetonka.

At the keg party, a couple feet away from the television, a group of students were cheering on contestants involved in a heated game of foosball between two squads–one red, the other blue. As Tuesday passed into Wednesday, the irony of the game was hard to miss: the red team was winning.