Students and professors look on as states turn red, blue

The Election Day watch party has picked up here at the College Church of Christ in Searcy, with Sen. Obama establishing a solid lead over Sen. McCain.

Laptops are open and flickering back and forth between news sites. Every so often Dr. Lori Klein of Harding will shout updates across the room to her husband, Dr. Kevin Klein. Dr. Steven Breezeel sits next to him, using his computer to update an electoral map that is projected up on the wall. Both men predict a win for the Obama campaign, and Dr. Klein anticipates a sizable margin of victory for the Democratic candidate. However, he remains skeptical that an Obama victory will necessarily bring the "change" that has been the hallmark of his campaign.

“People are out of the habit of elections being won by a substantial margin. They aren’t prepared to understand what it does or doesn’t mean," Klein said. Even if Obama wins the election and Democrats obtain a veto-proof majority of seats in the Senate, it will take years before we know whether this new administration will be as "historic" as it has been called. Mandates can be built upon, or they can be wasted. The United States can change for the better, for the worse, or not change at all. "Elections tell us where we are at a moment. They do not tell us that we are entering into a new era," Klein said

Each hour a new set of states falls to one side or another. Currently the electoral point spread shows Obama with 207 and McCain with 129, but the crowd began to thin out after Ohio turned blue on the map. The battleground state gave 20 electoral votes to Obama and, many watch party-goers assume, the Presidential election.

This has not visibly dampened the Republican supporters in the audience, nor has it brought the Democrats to their feet in celebration. The mood here is very casual, with red-shirted students sitting next to Obama button-wearers, talking amicably and even finding things to laugh about. As each state in the "Bible Belt" turned from grey to red, a cry of "I can't believe it!" could be heard coming from somewhere in the room. The crowd here is mainly made up of students from Dr. Breezeel’s class on Parties and Elections, and any partisan bitterness in the room seem to have been brushed aside. After all, they’ll all have to see each other again for class on Thursday.