Disappointment sets in for Republican supporters

By Francesca Chambers

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

The Kansan has partnered with KUJH to produce multimedia content for this story. View a broadcast related to the transit initiative here.

Jack Connor and Mike Conner entered the Topeka Capitol Plaza Hotel on Tuesday night and immediately headed for the bar.

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Connor and Conner each ordered a Mondo-sized Boulevard Wheat beer before proceeding to the room where the Kansas Republican Party’s election watch was being held. They knew those beers wouldn’t be the last alcoholic beverages they would order that evening.

“I think we’re going to lose badly,” said Conner, Shawnee graduate student, of Sen. John McCain’s odds of becoming the next president of the United States.

By 9 p.m., Obama was leading with 220 projected electoral votes to McCain’s 138. McCain was losing in Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio and all the other states that were leaning toward Obama and that were critical to McCain’s chances of winning the presidency.

When the party began at 7 p.m., hundreds of people filled the room, but by 9:30 p.m., almost an hour before McCain (R-Ariz.) would concede victory to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), fewer than 50 people remained. Republicans knew the party was over.

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Photo by Chance Dibben

Disappointed McCain supporters react to Obama's victory.

In his concession speech, McCain commended Obama for his ability to increase voter turnout and give people hope. He also recognized the significance of Obama’s election for African-Americans in the United States.

“Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and this country, and I applaud him for it,” McCain said.

Conner said he thought McCain handled the situation well by recognizing Obama as the winner before every vote was tallied and not raising the possibility of voter fraud or other legalities that had the potential to change the outcome of the election.

“I thought it was very gracious,” Conner said of McCain’s speech. “He recognized that the American people called for Barack Obama.”

The pair traveled to the Minneapolis for the 2008 Republican National Convention at the beginning of this semester to see McCain accept the nomination for president on behalf of his party. So, for them, McCain’s loss was especially disheartening.

The two students won credentials to the convention as part of a Kansas College Republicans initiative that asked members to canvass Facebook for McCain.

But Conner said he was not surprised or even disappointed in the outcome of the evening. He said he still considered the night a victory for Kansas Republicans because Republican candidate Lynn Jenkins was selected to replace Democratic incumbent Nancy Boyda in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“This is what I expected, so I’m not upset,” he said.

Connor was a bit more pessimistic about the outcome of the election, although he said he too had known for several weeks McCain would likely lose.

“I’m disappointed, but I think McCain’s going to keep up the good fight,” he said. “In a couple of years they’ll see what the country thinks of this new leadership.”

— — Edited by Scott Toland

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