More than 400 students stayed in the EMU until the doors were locked Tuesday night waiting for the results of the presidential race between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
The UO Students Rock the Vote 2000 Election Night Party, sponsored by the EMU Student Activities Resource Office, started at 6 p.m., but students parked themselves in front of the large-screen television in the EMU Fishbowl as early as 5 p.m.
As students mingled with each other, engrossed in commentary, they started out with high energy and nervous anticipation for the election results. But as the night wore on, students grew impatient.
Jeff Wiklander, a freshman business major and Republican, said despite the excitement, he felt outnumbered. The crowd seemed to favor Gore more than Bush, booing each time Bush won a state.
“Gore was talking about how his campaigning would help senior citizens, so I was a little surprised that the senior citizens in Arizona pulled for Bush,” Wiklander said.
Wiklander said he would be surprised if Bush won Oregon because a Democrat has claimed the state in the last four elections.
Most of the crowd in the Fishbowl seemed primarily interested in the presidential race, but a few state measures held the interest of students.”None of the measures seem to directly have an impact on my life as the presidency and Measure 9 do right now,” said Wayne Bund, a sophomore theater arts major.
Martha Mosqueda, a freshman undeclared major, said she was expecting the presidential race to be close and knew it would come down to a few electoral votes.
Mosqueda said she was frustrated that Nader took votes away from Gore, but she added that if Nader wasn’t there, the country wouldn’t be a democracy.
Mosqueda said she was comforted by Hillary Clinton’s and Vice Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman’s wins for U.S. Senate seats.
A lot of Democrats said Clinton’s win will give her a chance to speak about issues such as women’s rights and national health care.
Jaime Crandall, a freshman theater arts major, said Bush is apparently not thinking of the long term when it comes to issues such as a woman’s right to choose, military spending and the environment.
“Gore would have been better on environmental issues, especially because he has proposed such things as electric cars and other alternative forms of energy,” Mosqueda said.
Ken Stamper, a senior sociology major and Republican who favored Gore, said, “I am surprised [Oregon] is such a battleground. Usually by the time you get to the West Coast, the election is decided.”
Hours before the presidential race turned into a dead heat, the Public Relations Students Society of America sponsored a discussion about the influence of the media and public opinion on the candidates and issues.
The group, led by political science professor Jerry Medler, met at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Allen Hall.
More than 30 people watched televisions tracking the candidates’ progress. The tight results and predictions from the New York Times served as a basis for the discussion.
Medler spoke about the media’s influence on public opinion and the public’s lack of knowledge about the Electoral College.
The candidate who wins the popular vote in a state gets the electoral votes for that state, and thus the electoral vote ultimately decides the presidency. Oregon has seven electoral votes.
“Today is a unique day in our lifetime due to the attention given to the Electoral College,” Medler said, pointing to CNN’s election coverage on the television screen. “What you see is an accumulation of information from east to west.”
Medler said Bush started with his home state of Texas as a base, but used a “little state” strategy, while Gore campaigned the heaviest in and won states with more electoral votes such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois.
Medler also said this year the wait for Washington’s decision took so long because half the state used absentee ballots.
He said people have termed Nader a “spoiler” because they believe support for Nader is taking votes away from Gore and possibly throwing the election to Bush.