2012 Election Supplement

THE ELECTION ISSUE

SPECIAL EDITION NOVEMBER 7, 2012

Windy city celebrates Obama winPAGE B4–B5

Yale votes, volunteersPAGE B6

Romney concedes in BostonPAGE B8

BY HELEN ROUNERCONTRIBUTING REPORTER

Although President Barack Obama’s re-election dominated media coverage Tuesday night, several states around the country also made news by voting on par-ticularly divisive social justice issues — and moved in a largely progressive direction.

Maine, Maryland and Washington legalized same-sex marriage after long and bitter battles, and Minnesota voted not to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, while four other states legalized marijuana usage in some capacity. Yale students hailing from these states said they were largely unsurprised by the results of the ballot initiatives, charac-terizing them as evidence of the more lib-eral values of a younger generation of vot-ers.

Amalia Skilton ’13, a campus activist, said activism around marriage equality is especially important for people her age.

This past semester, Skilton worked on the “Yes on 1” campaign in Maine, an ultimately successful second attempt to legalize same-sex marriage in the state. In 2009, Maine voters rejected marriage equality after legislation permitting same-sex marriage was approved by the state’s legislature and governor. This year, Maine became the first state in which support-ers of same-sex marriage collected enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot themselves.

All three states were the first in the union to legalize same-sex marriage by popular vote. Same-sex marriage had already been legalized in New York, Connecticut, Mas-sachusetts, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ver-mont and the District of Columbia, but only by lawmakers or through court rul-ings.

As of press time, it appeared that in Minnesota, voters had narrowly voted down a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would ban same-sex marriage as well.

Hilary O’Connell ’14, president of Yale’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender

Cooperative, said young LGBTQ invididu-als saw legal barriers to marriage equality as communicating that they are “not good enough to form families.” At this point in their lives, she added, many young voters are especially sensitive to that idea, as they are beginning to think about having fami-lies of their own in the future.

Skilton placed the push towards legal-izing same-sex marriage in perspective: She said that she believed other states’ embrace of such legislation — most nota-bly the bipartisan passage of marriage equality legislation in New York last year — infleunced Maine voters’ decisions.

“Maine realized same-sex marriage doesn’t cause the end of the world,” she said, adding that organizing in the state since the 2009 initiative’s failure has “changed people’s minds.”

Marijuana legalization, another issue traditionally considered important to young voters, also had a landmark Election Day. On Tuesday, Colorado and Washing-ton voted to legalize, regulate and tax rec-reational marijuana usage, while Massa-chussetts and Montana voters chose to permit the use of medical marijuana.

Maren Hopkins ’14, who hails from Boulder, Co., said she expected her state to legalize the limited possession and sale of marijuana in the election, as it eventu-ally did, in large part because of the votes of young people, particularly in college towns.

Massachusetts resident Jonah Bader ’16 said that even though his state had already decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana in 2008, he was sur-prised that the medical marijuana question passed, especially by such a large margin.

“People were worried about Massachu-setts’s seeing the same types of abuses of medical marijuana that have been seen in California,” Bader said.

Oregon and Arkansas deviated from the trend towards change by voting to keep marijuana usage — recreational and medi-cal respectively — illegal.

Travis Heine ’14, the president of Choose Life at Yale, said he saw young

people as “fired up” about traditional con-servative values. Speaking before the elec-tion, he said he would count the passage of Amendment 6 in Florida, a prohibition on the use of state tax money for the provision of abortions, as a!rmation of the pro-life movement’s momentum.

Florida eventually struck down Amend-ment 6 on Tuesday, though Montana passed legislation requiring a minor to notify her parents 48 hours in advance of having an abortion.

Rafi Bildner ’16, an Obama supporter who spent last night at the Obama head-quarters in Chicago, said he saw the leg-islative trend as representing a shift in the national conversation.

“The mainstream in this country is becoming more accepting and more pro-gressive on social issues,” Bildner said. “It’s not just a movement anymore: This is the norm.”

National exit polling from CNN as of press time said that 18-29 year olds favored Obama over Republican challenger Mitt Romney by 22 points in Tuesday’s election.

Contact HELEN ROUNER at [email protected] .

FOOD POLICY

CA – Proposition 37NO 54.3%

Requires labeling of food containing genetically engineered ingredients.

Claire McCaskill*i Todd Akin

Democrat Republican

54.8% 39.2%

Todd Akin drew national criticism in August for his pro-life comments on “legitimate rape,” ultimately losing the race to incumbent Claire McCaskill.

99% reporting

PAGE B2 YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012 · yaledailynews.com

NATION

THE ELECTION1/20/09–4/4/11

JAN. 20, 2009Barack Obama is sworn into o!ce as the 44th president of the United States.

OCT. 12, 2009Secretary of State and 2008 presidential challenger Hillary Clinton declares she will not run against Obama in 2012.

JAN. 21, 2010In a decision, the Supreme Court rules to allow unlimited corporate funding of inde-pendent political broadcasts in candidate elections.

NOV. 2, 2010Republicans gain 63 seats in the House of Representatives and 6 seats in the Senate in an historically one-sided midterm elec-tion.

APR. 4, 2011Obama o!cially announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nominee.

Ballot initiatives present generally progressive results

BY JOHN AROUTIOUNIAN CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

As the dust clears after one of the most expensive election cycles in recent memory, many politi-cal analysts are predicting that the newly elected Congress will con-tinue to face legislative gridlock.

With Republicans maintaining control of the House of Represen-tatives and Democrats hanging on to their Senate majority, President Barack Obama will enter a new term with his work cut out for him. Not only has the president faced an uncompromising atmosphere in Congress since Republicans won the House in 2010, but political moderates in Congress also faced losses last night that may speak to the polarization of both parties.

“No one is going to break through the gridlock this year. In fact, Congress will be more polar-ized than before. The last of the moderates are losing,” said Michael Tanner, senior domestic policy fel-low at the libertarian CATO Insti-tute.

Brian Darling, senior fellow for government studies at the Her-itage Foundation, a conserva-tive think tank, said he thinks it is unlikely that congressional Repub-licans will agree to raise revenues in the coming session.

“I would expect more of the same we’ve had over the past two years,” Darling said of a Demo-cratic win for both the Senate and the presidency. “It will be virtu-ally impossible to extend all of the Bush tax cuts, but otherwise I don’t think Republicans are going to accede to the idea that we need more tax revenues. The federal

government spends too much, and Republicans will have the incen-tive to continue focusing on cut-ting spending.”

Darling said that had Romney won and the Senate tightened, Republicans would have been likely to pursue further spending and regulation cuts.

Elizabeth Henry ’14, the presi-dent of the Yale College Repub-licans, said she thinks Obama’s re-election will determine con-gressional action.

“The president determines the dynamic, and what happens in Congress will depend on whether we have a president who is com-mitted to bipartisanship,” Henry said. “Every major Obama admin-istration initiative was passed with almost no Republican votes.”

But Yale College Democrats President Zak Newman ’13 said that even with both Obama’s re-election and a divided Congress, Republicans will have to compro-mise more frequently.

“They can no longer be the party of ‘no,’” Newman said.

Darling identified Obama’s often-touted jobs proposal as a potential legislative priority that might attract bipartisan support in the coming session.

But Tanner said he is not opti-mistic about the prospect for com-promise given a recent spike in party polarization. He identified Republicans like New Hampshire Rep. Charlie Bass and Massachu-setts Sen. Scott Brown as mem-bers of an endangered breed of party moderates who lost in highly contested races last night. He also noted how “Blue Dogs,” the name given to moderate and conservative

Democrats in the House and Sen-ate, su"ered heavy losses in 2010 as a “more polarized electorate” voted for conservative, Tea Party-backed Republicans instead.

“The Senate is likely getting more polarizing figures on the left and right, like Massachusetts can-didate Elizabeth Warren and Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz,” Tan-ner said.

Other moderates, like Republi-can Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, were defeated by Tea Party conser-vatives in primary elections. Such polarization is expected to con-tinue because most of those elected to Congress in 2010 will remain in o!ce.

Due to Congress’ inability to compromise on significant legis-lation, three analysts interviewed said they fear the new legislative session will be marked by more “stopgap” measures that offer temporary fixes to immediate bud-getary issues but will be more cau-tious when it comes to seriously tackling budgetary reform and other major priorities, including entitlement reform and Medicare. But Tanner said he predicts the newly elected Congress will still tackle immigration reform, given bipartisan interest in resolving the issue.

Prior to yesterday’s election, the Senate was split between 53 Democrats and 47 Republicans. The House of Representatives had 241 Republican members and 191 Democratic members.

Contact JOHN AROUTIOUNIAN at [email protected] .

Congress poised for more of the same

GAY MARRIAGE

MD – Question 6YES 52.0%

Approves a law that allows same-sex couples to obtain a civil marriage license.

ME – Question 1YES 53.3%

Overturns a ban on gay marriage in the state.

MN – Amendment 1NO 51.5%

Bans same-sex marriage.

WA – Referendum 74YES 51.8%

Legalizes same-sex marriage in the state.

MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION

CO – Amendment 64YES 54.0%

Legalizes recreational use of marijuana with regulations.

OR – Measure 80NO 55.3%

Creates a cannabis commision to regulate the cultivation and sale of cannabis.

WA – Initiative 502YES 55.4%

Legalizes and regulates the sale of small amounts of marijuana to people 21 and older.

AR – Issue 5NO 51.6%

Authorizes the use of medical marijuana in the state.

MA – Question 3YES 63.4%

Allows the use of medical marijuana in the state.

DEATH PENALTY

CA – Proposition 34NO 53.9%

Repeals the death penalty and replaces it with life imprisonment without possibility of parole.

GAMBLING

MD – Question 7YES 51.8%

Allows the construction of a new casino in Prince George’s County.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

OK – Question 759YES 59.2%

Bans a!rmative action programs in the state.

SEGREGATION

AL – Amendment 4NO 60.8%

Removes references to segregation of schools and repeals portions relating to the poll tax in the state constitution.

Elizabeth Warren Scott Brown*i

Democrat Republican

53.9% 46.1%

In a hotly-contested race, Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren defeated incumbent Scott Brown, who won the seat two years ago after the death of Senator Ted Kennedy.

95% reporting

Tammy Baldwin* Tommy Thompson

Democrat Republican

50.8% 46.6%

Tammy Baldwin made history Tuesday night as the first openly gay person elected to the U.S. Senate.

96% reporting

Timothy Kaine* George Allen

Democrat Republican

52.1% 47.9%

The Kaine-Allen race was the most expensive in the country when including outside and candidate spending. Both are former Virginia governors.

99% reporting

Sherrod Brown*i Josh Mandel

Democrat Republican

50.3% 45.1%

Incumbent Sherrod Brown, first elected to the Senate in 2006, had consis-tently led the polls by 10 percentage points throughout the race.

99% reporting OHIO

VIRGINIA

WISCONSIN

MASSACHUSETTS

MISSOURISOURCE: HUFFINGTON POST*winner, i incumbent

SOURCE: HUFFINGTON POST*as of press time

YALE DAILY NEWS · WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2012 · yaledailynews.com PAGE B3

CONNECTICUT

THE ELECTION6/2/11-10/4/11

JUNE 2, 2011Mitt Romney announces his candidacy for the Republican presidential nominee. Rick Santorum, Michelle Bachmann and Jon Huntsman announce their candidacies.

AUGUST 13, 2011Michele Bachmann wins Iowa’s Ames straw poll. Rick Perry announces entry into the Republican primary race.

AUGUST 14, 2011Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty announces his withdrawal from the Repub-lican primary.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2011Obama addresses a joint meeting of Con-gress to propose jobs bill.

OCTOBER 4, 2011Amid speculation, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announces he will not run for president in 2012.

How we votedConnecticut’s results

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DISTRICT 1

NAME VOTES %John B. Larson* (D) 164,732 62

John Henry Decker (R) 74,125 30

S. Michael DeRosa 3556 2

Matthew Corey 1382 1


NAME VOTES %Joe Courtney* (D) 197,940 67

Paul M. Formica (R) 90,970 31

Dan Reale 2,919 1

Colin D. Bennet 2939 1

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

NAME VOTES %Barack Obama and Joseph Biden (D) 740,029 57

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan (R) 544,261 42

Others 15,411 1

42%57%HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DISTRICT 3

NAME VOTES %Rosa L. DeLauro* (D) 172,583 74

Wayne Winsley (R) 61,500 26


NAME VOTES %Jim Himes (D)* 83,797 53

Steve Obsitnik (R) 73,209 47


NAME VOTES %Elizabeth Esty (D) 136,674 52

Andrew Roraback (R) 127,334 48

SENATE

NAME VOTES %Linda McMahon (R) 541,753 44%

Chris Murphy (D) 658,996 54%

DeLauro, Esty victorious

BY MATTHEW LLOYD-THOMASCONTRIBUTING REPORTER

Come January, veteran 3rd District Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro will once again make her way to Washington. Join-ing her will be newcomer Dem-ocrat Elizabeth Esty LAW ’85, who won the congressional race in Connecticut’s 5th District Tuesday.

Incumbent DeLauro, whose district includes much of cen-tral Connecticut and New Haven, won with a reported 74 percent of the vote as of press time against Republican chal-lenger Wayne Winsley. Esty won with a far slimmer margin, tak-ing 51 percent of the vote against Republican Andrew Roraback ’83 in the race to succeed Sena-tor-elect Chris Murphy in Con-necticut’s 5th District, which includes the northwest part of the state and Waterbury. DeLauro’s and Esty’s victories will result in the continuation of an entirely Democratic Con-necticut delegation to the House of Representatives.

“I’ve said it so many times in the past, that I take this as an incentive — an incentive to work harder and make a di!er-ence to the people in our com-munity, to the middle class, to the people who are less fortu-nate,” DeLauro said in a victory speech Tuesday night.

DeLauro first took office in 1991 and has won re-election with at least 63 percent of the vote in every campaign since. Considered one of the most liberal members of Congress, DeLauro previously worked as the chief of sta! for former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, a Democrat who served from 1981 to 2011, when he was replaced by Sen. Richard Blumenthal LAW ’73. She also served as the executive director of EMILY’s List, an organization dedicated to funding female political can-didates.

DeLauro’s popularity is so great that her name on the ballot may have helped fellow Demo-cratic Congressman Chris Mur-phy win a hard-fought Sen-ate race for Joseph Liberman’s ’64 LAW ’67 seat, contrary to the more typical trickle-down effect from presidential and senatorial races to congressio-nal and local ones, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said Tuesday morning.

“I think it helps that Chris Murphy is bracketed by what I think are two popular Demo-crats in the 3rd Congressional District, President Obama and Rosa,” DeStefano said.

Jimmy Tickey, DeLauro’s campaign manager, agreed with DeStefano’s claim, adding

that volunteers for DeLauro’s campaign were also knocking on doors and making calls for Obama and Murphy on Election Day.

Despite DeLauro’s high pop-ularity throughout the 3rd Dis-trict, few Yalies know that she represents them in the House of Representatives.

Of 31 students interviewed on Election Day, only four had heard of DeLauro. Drew Morri-son ’14, who was checking vot-ers in at the New Haven Public Library early Tuesday morning, said he did not think many Yale students were paying attention to the congressional campaign.

“I would guess 95 percent of Yalies can’t name who she’s running against,” Morrison said.

Morrison added that this lack of knowledge may stem from Yale students’ uncertain iden-tity as voters.

“There’s such an issue of ‘do you identify yourself with New Haven for these couple of years or do you identify with where you’re from?’” Morrison explained.

Despite the long odds of his victory, DeLauro’s opponent Winsley, who has worked as a motivational speaker and talk radio host, said throughout the day that he remained optimis-tic.

“I have a better shot than anyone that’s run against her,” Winsley said Tuesday morning.

Winsley declined to com-ment on the structure of his field operation, instead repeat-ing, “We are a small group of determined people.”

While Yale students voted in a largely noncompetitive con-gressional race, voters in north-western Connecticut, including in Waterbury and Bethel, par-ticipated in a much closer con-test with fewer than 10,000 votes separating the candidates. Senator-elect Murphy held the seat for six years after serving in the Connecticut State Sen-ate. Both Esty and Roraback also began their political careers in the Connecticut General Assembly, with Esty holding a Connecticut House of Repre-sentatives seat for two years and Roraback serving six years in the Connecticut House of Rep-resentatives and 12 years in the Connecticut State Senate.

Esty campaign spokesman Jeb Fain attributed the win largely to Esty’s organization on the ground, which mobilized a large volunteer force.

“We’ve got a great grass-roots field organization that [Roraback] just hasn’t been able to match,” Fain told the News.

The Roraback campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Tuesday.

In Connecticut’s other three congressional districts, Dem-ocratic incumbent candidates won re-election. John Lar-son, who has held the seat since 1999, won in the 1st District; Joe Courtney, who has held the seat since 2007, won in the 2nd Dis-trict; and Jim Himes, who has held the seat since 2009, in the 4th District.

Contact MATTHEW LLOYD-THOMAS at

[email protected] .

I would guess 95 percent of Yalies can’t name who [DeLauro] is running against.

DREW MORRISON ’14Volunteer, New Haven Public Library

polling site

MARGARET NEIL/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

U.S. Senator-elect Chris Murphy delivers his victory speech in Hartford, Conn.

Murphy defeats McMahon

*IncumbentVote total includes all precincts reported at 2:20 a.m. Wednesday

JESSICA HILL/ASSOCIATED PRESS

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., during a rally for Democratic candi-date for U.S. Senate Chris Murphy in Hartford, Conn.

CT SENATE FROM PAGE A1

Hilton Hotel to deliver his acceptance speech, he thanked those involved in his campaign and promised he would fight for the idea that middle-class Americans “who work hard and play fair deserve a chance to make it.” Flanked by a number of senior Con-necticut politicians including Attorney Gen-eral George Jepsen, Governor Dannel Malloy and Senator Richard Blumenthal LAW ’73, Murphy added, “tonight, we proved that we do not have auctions, but elections in this country.”

Blumenthal, who defeated McMahon in 2010 to win his seat, saw many parallels between his victory and Murphy’s.

“We both faced $50 million ‘negative attack-planned campaign[s],’ and her game plan involved never letting people know where exactly she stood on the issues,” he said in an interview with the News at Mur-phy’s victory rally. He added that McMa-hon was not committed to preserving Medi-care and Social Security, bringing the troops home from Afghanistan or fighting for wom-en’s rights.

As McMahon delivered her concession speech from the stage at the main ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in Stamford, the audi-ence booed when the former wrestling mag-nate said she had called Murphy to o!er her congratulations and ask him to “continue to work hard for the people in our state.”

“I look back on this campaign with no regrets,” McMahon said. “I don’t think we left a stone unturned, I don’t think we would have done anything di!erently in the cam-paign. It was an incredibly well-run, hard-fought race.”

The crowd jumped on their feet and erupted in cheers of “Linda Governor” when the Republican candidate reminded her sup-porters that “it is our responsibility to charge, challenge and make sure [Washington] hears what we have to say and they work for us.”

Dean Yalanis, a volunteer for McMahon’s campaign in West Hartford, said Murphy’s win comes as no surprise, as “Connecticut is a largely democratic state.”

“That said, I believe Linda was the right candidate and I know she would have helped people,” Yalanis added.

Steven Mullins, a Justice of the Peace from West Haven, said he was disappointed by the results of the race.

“I don’t think the most capable and quali-fied candidate won, but I’m wishing for the best,” he said.

While elated by his victory, no one who attended Murphy’s rally was surprised at the outcome. “I wasn’t surprised [Mur-phy] won in a landslide,” said Matthew Hop-kins, a police o"cer in Hartford, adding that McMahon’s “horrendous” commercials backfired and revealed her inability to con-nect with most people. Allan Marks, a rep-

resentative for District 8 in Fairfield, said that “Murphy is down to earth and smart — somebody I could relate to.”

McMahon received voter disapproval for campaign tactics like the doorhangers that were distributed encouraging voters to vote for her and Obama.

“The trickery that she supports Obama is unethical,” said Lois Santiago, a retiree who used to work in the o"ce of Chris Dodd.

Even McMahon supporters voiced their dissent against McMahon’s split-ticket advertisement tactics.

Shannon Burkle, a Middletown resident and McMahon supporter, said she did not approve of the campaign’s tactics to deploy such advertisements tying McMahon to U.S. President Barack Obama.

“People should vote Linda for her policies, not because she supports Obama,” Burkle said.

Of roughly 40 people interviewed by the News at di!erent polling locations across the city, all predicted Murphy would win.

“Linda might be tough, but not tough enough to take on Washington,” Alberta Witherspoon, a New Haven resident and Murphy supporter, said Tuesday afternoon

Preliminary figures indicate that Mur-

phy did especially well in New Haven and with the Yale student body, taking 85 per-cent of the 1300 student votes in Ward 1 alone, according to the Yale College Demo-crats. Two of the polling locations visited by Yale students — the New Haven Free Public Library and the Wexler Grant School — saw “solid lines” starting as early as 6 a.m., said Ward 1 Alderwoman Sarah Eidelson ‘12.

Around 5 p.m., the line around the New Haven Public Library was over an hour long, snaking around the corner and doubling up inside the building. Eidelson attributed the strong students turnout at the polls to Mur-phy’s e!orts to “mobilize college students” across Connecticut.

“This race is really about the values we want our government to operate on, whether it’s college grants, jobs, or women’s right to control their body,” she said.

At 39, Murphy will be the youngest Sena-tor in Congress.

Contact LORENZO LIGATO at [email protected], MARGARET NEIL at [email protected]

and RISHABH BHANDARI at [email protected] .


CHICAGO


OCTOBER 5, 2011Former Alaska Governor and 2008 Repub-lican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin announces she will not run for President in 2012.

OCTOBER 11, 2011Former Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani announces he will not run for Presi-dent in 2012.

DECEMBER 3, 2011Herman Cain announces the suspension of his campaign for the Republican Party presidential nomination.

JANUARY 3, 2012Victory in the Iowa Republican caucuses is initially declared for for Romney, then San-torum then Ron Paul. Obama wins the Iowa Democratic caucuses.

JANUARY 4, 2012Representative Michele Bachmann, who came in sixth in Iowa, announces the sus-pension of her Presidential campaign.

SPENCER GREEN/ASSOCIATED PRESS

First lady Michelle Obama and her daughters, Sasha and Malia, applaud as re-elected President Barack Obama, hugs his Vice President Joesph R. Biden.

BY DIANA LISTAFF REPORTER

CHICAGO, Ill. — Suzie Hernandez woke up yesterday with a feeling that President Obama was going to be re-elected and convinced three of her colleagues to make the four-hour-long drive from their hometown in Ohio to Chicago to celebrate at the end of Election Day.

“Four years ago today, I stayed home and watched Obama win on TV,” Hernandez said. “But I wished I was down here, so I got up and recruited people to come with me. They said I was crazy, but I got them to come anyway.”

Others came from even far-ther away — Gabriel Peron and Morgane Kaluzinski, of Lon-don, made the trip all the way to Chicago this year. Proud supporters of Obama, the two came to Chicago four years ago to celebrate his victory and said they felt it was important for them to show up in person and demonstrate their sup-port.

While both reporters and taxi drivers in downtown Chi-cago said that the city seemed empty and the level of enthu-siasm lower than in the 2008 election, spending just a few minutes at Thompson Cen-ter, where many Obama sup-porters congregated Tuesday night, suggested otherwise. Cars honked in the streets and people — some half-naked, despite the chilly weather — ran through the plaza, scream-ing and celebrating. One man held his bike up over his head in triumph.

Even after President Obama was declared the winner by several major news organi-zations at 11:33 p.m., people came pouring into the plaza. As already-old news of each state’s winner flashed across the screen, the crowd booed and cheered as if the election results were new. Cold rain was not enough to deter people from staying, and some peo-ple, who had brought chairs with them, had camped out in the plaza when the screen was first set up.

Like Hernandez, K im Knight said she decided the chance of seeing Obama cele-brate re-election was worth a long drive. Together with her son Joseph Knight, she made the trip from Burlington, Iowa and left as soon as her son got out of school.

“I was a lot more nervous this year — I’ve been crying,” she said. “I brought my son both times because I want him to remember history. He was so young when I brought him four years ago.

“But he still remembers,” she nudged her son as he smiled.

There were a number of other young faces in the crowd. Bronte Phipps, an 11-year-old called the celebration “fas-cinating.” She said she loved being part of an event in which all these di!erent people came together, while fellow 11-year-old Caitlin Preuss, who stood next to her, chimed in and said the presidential debates are her favorite part of the whole election process.

For Kansas resident Andrea Mick, it was necessary to come to Chicago to truly express her opinions about Tuesday night’s election.

“We don’t have anything like this in Kansas to support Obama, because … well, basi-cally it’s not allowed in Kan-sas,” she said.

No matter their hometown, the crowd outside the Thomp-son Center all celebrated Obama’s victory differently. At the announcement of Pres-ident Obama’s re-election,

one woman at the very front of the crowd broke into tears, speechless as a group of pho-tographers gathered around her to capture her reaction. She simply buried her face in her hands and looked up in disbelief every few seconds.

Her friend laughed and joked — “He won, silly!” — but she continued to sob.

Whether people were crying or cheering, though, one thing was clear: the hope Obama championed in his 2008 cam-paign was still alive and well among those at the heavily attended celebration Tuesday night.

President Obama served as a senator from Illinois before running for president in 2008.

Contact DIANA LI at [email protected] .

Chicago crowds go wild

CHARLES CHERNEY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

I’ve been crying. I brought my son both times because I want him to remember history.

KIM KNIGHTCelebration attendee

DIANA LI/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Hispanic campaign workers in Ohio canvass for President Obama’s reelection campaign.

BY MICHELLE HACKMANSTAFF REPORTER

CHICAGO, Ill. — Long before major news networks declared President Barack Obama the victor in last night’s presidential race, his base in Chicago started celebrating his victory.

Standing in line to enter the Obama campaign’s victory rally, Erica Brown said she was entering the festivities with the expectation that the president would win a second term.

“My expectations are out of the stratosphere,” she said. “He’s got this.”

For Brown and many of those in her position, a number of indications in the past few days and weeks already seemed certain proof that of a second Obama triumph.

Nate Silver, a pollster who runs the New York Times blog FiveThirtyEight, consistently projected above a 65 percent chance of an Obama victory throughout the last two weeks of the presidential campaign. In the days leading up to the elec-tion, Silver’s projection crept up to a 90 percent chance that

the incumbent would prevail. Meanwhile, a positive final pre-election jobs report also boosted the hopes of Obama fans across the nation.

So when another attendee in line, Cassandra Prince, was asked whether Romney had a fighting chance, she found the idea inconceivable.

“I think [Republicans] are hard on [Obama] because of who he is as a person,” she said. “But he said it would take him two terms to clean up this mess, and he has done 99 percent of everything he’s promised to do.”

In fact, the sometimes-blind enthusiasm for Presi-dent Obama in Chicago may have, for some people, eclipsed a more realistic snapshot of the nation’s consciousness. Prince’s friend, Payal Gan-dhi, suggested that turnout at Obama’s Victory Party — an event that rewards Obama campaign volunteers with tickets — is an indication of the support he holds across the country.

“He is for the people, and he cares about the people, and that’s why there are so many

people here to support him,” she said.

Pastor Henry Holloway, who was standing in line right behind Prince and Gandhi, nodded vig-orously.

“Honestly, too bad he can’t serve four more years after these four more years,” Holloway said.

By Election Night, Silver gave Obama a 90.9 percent chance of victory.

Contact MICHELLE HACKMAN at

[email protected] .

Little surprise among Obama supporters

He is for the people, and he cares about the people, and that’s why there are so many people here to support him.

PAYAL GANDHIAttendee, Victory rally

BY DIANA LISTAFF REPORTER

CHICAGO — Signs supporting President Barack Obama lined the storefronts on 53rd Street in Hyde Park, a place that residents have a!ec-tionately nicknamed “Obamatown” and “Obamanation.”

Despite his rapid rise in politics as Illinois senator and then presi-dent, President Obama has still kept in touch with people in his home-town, local residents said. All of them declared with conviction that Obama was not the type to forget about his roots. His life in Hyde Park, they said, taught him the values of humility, hard work and cooperation — all principles they see as defining characteristics of his first term as president.

Michael Sullivan, 50, said he first noticed Obama when he did work as a community activist at Altgeld Gar-dens, a public housing project where Obama helped campaign to get rid of asbestos in construction materials.

“I had no idea he was going to ele-vate to the level he did,” said Sullivan, who traveled to Washington, D.C. to attend Obama’s inauguration in Jan-uary 2009. “But he had his boots on the ground, and he’s a hands-on type of guy. He’s always helping people and helping the community.”

Ray Bailey, 76, said Obama’s choice to operate his re-election campaign out of Chicago showed that he still keeps his hometown in mind and that he still remains faithful to his origins. Obama needs a second term, Bailey added, in order to undo the “catastro-phe” — from economic turmoil to wars abroad — caused by former President George W. Bush ’68.

For Bailey, Republican candidate Mitt Romney only had the potential to stir another catastrophe.

“Hyde Park’s got some of every-body,” Bailey said. “Here we all work together, and I doubt Romney knows anything about that.”

Sullivan and Bailey were both enjoying meals at Valois, a restau-rant in Hyde Park and one of Obama’s favorite eateries. Spiro Argiris, owner of Valois, said the president would have breakfast there every morning earlier in his life, and that even after getting married and having kids, he made an e!ort to come during week-ends. Upon entering the restaurant, customers are greeted by a red, white and blue menu o!ering many of “Pres-ident Obama’s Favorites,” created in honor of Obama’s frequent patronage at the restaurant.

When asked about Obama’s start in the area, Argiris identified Hyde Park as one of the poorest areas in Chicago.

“He lived all his life with very poor people, and any time you grow up with nothing and you work yourself to get some place, you understand the every-day people,” Argiris said.

Ishmael Coye, the owner of the bar-bershop that Obama frequented until he was elected to the Oval O"ce in 2008, recalled Obama as a down-to-earth figure who just liked to talk about sports.

“We’d talk about what teams he liked and the teams he thought were going to make it to playo!s, but never politics,” Coye said. “He’s really con-nected to the common person.”

Contact DIANA LI at [email protected] .

“Suck on that, red!” yelled a proud Obama supporter as he ran across the street to join the grow-ing crowd of hundreds.

Lorena Pachecl, a Chicago res-ident who said she was at a bar but wanted to “get a little rowdy,” decided to join the watch party long after Obama was declared the winner. She barely finished her comment before joining a chant of “USA! USA!”

Romney o!ered a concession speech at around 12:55 a.m. in which he thanked his support-ers and announced that he had called Obama to congratulate him on the election victory. Shortly after 2:00 a.m., Obama emerged onstage before an elated crowd with his wife and daughter to give his victory speech. The Chicago native voiced gratitude for sup-

port throughout the campaign and resolved to lead the nation through current, albeit contro-versial, issues, including global warming, LGBTQ rights and immigration reform.

With an affirmation of sup-port from the day’s vote, Obama’s message to the country returned to the mantra of hope defined his 2008 campaign, citing an endur-ing national spirit that leads Americans to “keep reaching” and “keep fighting.”

“I believe we can seize this future together because we are not as divided as our politics sug-gest,” Obama said. “We’re not as cynical as the pundits believe. We are greater than the sum of our individual ambitions and we remain more than a collection of red states and blue states.”

Exit polls from Tuesday vot-ing indicated that Obama per-

formed particularly well among youth and minority voters. Data indicated younger voters turned out in even higher numbers than in 2008, and Obama won an esti-mated 70 percent or more of Afri-can-American, Asian and Latino voters, as well as posting large leads among women.

Early in the evening, Romney led Obama in the national popu-lar vote, leaving some observers to fear that the race would pan out much the like 2000 presidential race, in which George W. Bush ’68 was not declared victorious until weeks after Election Day. But as the night drew on, Obama’s Elec-tion Day edge grew and it became clear that the president would sail to a comfortable margin of vic-tory.

Political experts have cited the Obama campaign’s early spring and summer attack ad strategy,

in which the campaign painted Romney as an elitist who was out of touch with the Ameri-can people, as a major factor in his victory. Romney’s campaign, by contrast, launched a major-ity of its attack ads in the fall, after voters in key swing states had seen months of anti-Romney advertisements produced by the Obama camp.

“The American people just chose people over profits,” said Chris Olsen, a Chicago resident who celebrated the president’s victory in the Thompson Center plaza. “He’s more for the people. Romney was all about money.”

Sean Smith, a lecturer on media, politics and global a!airs at the Jackson Institute, said that Romney’s biggest failure when appealing to voters was his cam-paign’s reliance on Romney’s image as the non-Obama candi-

date.“He tried to establish a narra-

tive to say that the biggest deficit the incumbent has is understand-ing of the economy and business, and [he personifies] understand-ing of business through Bain Capital, so he is the antidote to the incumbent,” Smith said.

Meanwhile, some Republi-cans have pointed to Hurricane Sandy as a major reason for their candidate’s defeat, blaming the massive storm for distracting the American public from the race and giving the president several days of positive media coverage during disaster relief e!orts.

But Obama’s victory is sure to bring struggles in the nation’s not-so-distant future. On Jan. 1, the nation is due to fall o! what has been deemed a “fiscal cli!,” a series of automatic deep spending cuts and tax increases that both

parties in Congress desperately want to avoid. Neither party has acted to come to a compromise before last night’s election, and U.S. Senate and House Republi-cans have expressed unwilling-ness in recent weeks to compro-mise if the White House remained in Democratic hands.

Though this campaign likely marks Romney’s last, the Repub-lican challenger’s running mate Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan was simultaneously re-elected to his house seat.

Obama is the first Democratic president since Franklin Roos-evelt to win re-election with over 50 percent of the vote. He will be sworn in for his re-election on Jan. 20.

Contact MICHELLE HACKMAN at [email protected] andDIANA LI at [email protected] .


CHICAGO

THE ELECTION1/10/12-1/31/12

JANUARY 16, 2012Huntsman, who came in third in New Hampshire, withdraws from the race and endorses Romney.

JANUARY 19, 2012Perry, who came in sixth in New Hampshire, withdraws from the race and endorses Gin-grich.

JANUARY 21, 2012Gingrich wins the South Carolina Republi-can primary.

JANUARY 31, 2012Obama and Romney win the Florida prima-ries for their respective parties.

STEPHANIE RIVKIN/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Crowds in Chicago were jubilant as television networks called the election for President Barack Obama Tuesday night.

OBAMA FROM PAGE A1

Here [at Hyde Park] we all work together, and I doubt Romney knows anything about that.

RAY BAILEYHyde Park resident

Support for Obama remains strong

DIANA LI/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Valois, an eatery in Hyde Park, Chicago, featured a menu of “President Obama’s Favorites.”

JANUARY 10, 2012Obama and Romney win the New Hamp-shire primaries for their respective parties.

Chicago residents reminisce about Obama’s roots


CAMPUS


MAR. 6, 2012During the Republican Party’s “Super Tuesday,” Romney wins six states, Santo-rum wins three states and Gingrich wins Georgia

APR. 25, 2012Romney is declared the presumptive Republican nominee by the RNC.

MAY 2, 2012Gingrich suspends his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination and endorses Mitt Romney.

JULY 2, 2012At a Roanoke, Va. campaign rally, Obama uses the phrase “You didn’t build that” to describe business’s reliance on public infrastructure.

AUG. 11, 2012House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan is announced as Mitt Romney’s vice presi-dential candidate.

BY CORINNE KENTORCONTRIBUTING REPORTER

Yesterday, members of the Yale College Democrats and Yale College Republicans donned T-shirts, buttons and, in some cases, war paint, as they prepared for the culmination of more than a year and a half of work. It was Election Day.

More than 18 hours later, the Dems raucously celebrated President Barack Obama’s victory over Republican pres-idential candidate Mitt Romney. It was a “truly joyous occasion,” said Brin-ton Williams ’16, who added that the Dems members around him were yell-ing and hugging one another. Gathered in the AEPi house on Crown Street, the young liberals cheered as states turned from undecided grey to Democratic blue, filling in their own hand-drawn version of the United States elec-toral map with red and blue Sharp-ies. Gathered in the Silliflicks theater on the other side of campus, mem-bers of the Yale College Republicans said they were supportive of Obama as American citizens, but that they were not optimistic about his second term. The atmosphere among YCR mem-bers throughout the night was initially “tense, but hopeful,” according to Aus-tin Schaefer ’15, vice chairman of the

Yale College Republicans, but mem-bers grew increasingly anxious as more results were announced, booing tele-vision reports on Fox News, their out-let of choice, as more states fell to the Democratic incumbent.

Members of both organizations spent the morning and afternoon of Election Day urging registered vot-ers to go to the polls and canvassing neighborhoods throughout Connect-icut, Massachusetts and Pennsylva-nia, said the two organizations’ pres-idents. Each added that the campus groups were very concerned with the Connecticut Senate race, which had the potential to swing in favor of either Democrat Chris Murphy or Republican Linda McMahon.

“Most of the [Dems] volunteers are working on Connecticut and the Mur-phy campaign,” said Zak Newman ’13, the president of the Dems.

Schaefer said being able to support a Republican candidate in a tradition-ally blue state enabled his group to “be actively involved and make a di!er-ence.”

Yale College Republicans chair-woman Elizabeth Henry ’14 said Elec-tion Day found her more excited than ever to be a young Republican.

Both groups took steps to transmit that enthusiasm to Yale’s student body.

Beginning at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday morn-ing, Newman said, the Dems divided their resources and volunteers among the 12 residential colleges to ensure high student turnout. Volunteers spent the first hour of Election Day posting cards on student doors encouraging all registered Connecticut voters to “Vote Obama, Vote Murphy, Vote Today.”

Two and a half hours later, a group of Dems went to cast their ballots. Ben Healy ’16, a Dems member, said he and other volunteers spent the rest of the day reminding students to vote by going door-to-door throughout the Yale campus and calling registered stu-dents on the phone to o!er them rides to the polls.

“The best part of today [was that] the response I heard most frequently was ‘I already voted,’ ” Newman said.

The Dems were not alone in their efforts. MeCHA de Yale worked throughout the course of the campaign to combat voter suppression among Hispanic voters in Fair Haven, Conn., said group leader Diana Enriquez ’13. She added that groups like hers enabled students who did not necessarily have a direct interest in working with either of the major parties on campus to still get involved in the political process by helping to educate voters in the Latino community.

Meanwhile, activist organization Students Unite Now also joined with the Dems in e!orts to get out the vote, Williams said.

By midnight on Tuesday night, the Dems were in high spirits, while the Republicans looked pessimistically on the next four years.

“I think it’s a really regrettable thing that Obama has won a second term,” said Alex Crutchfield ’15, a Republican student. “Over the past four years, he has not made policies that are good for America.”

Rafi Bildner ’16, who spent the past year working in the finance depart-ment of the Obama campaign, dis-agreed. He said he flew to Chicago Monday night to help out at Obama HQ on Election Day.

Bildner said he sees students as hav-ing an even larger impact on this elec-tion than they did in 2008. Newman said he agreed, adding that the large turnout among Yale students — which was higher than in 2008 — indicates the success of on-campus organiza-tions like the Yale College Republicans and the Dems.

“At the end of the day,” he added, “I think we know we did our job well.”

Obama received 60.4 percent of the vote in New Haven county as of press time.

Contact CORINNE KENTOR at [email protected] .

Political groups tense around election

SARA MILLER/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Members of student groups worked on the local and national elections.

L-R: SARAH ECKINGER/PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR; EMILIE FOYER/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER

Though celebrations were modest compared to those in 2008, students cheered when Obama’s victory was announced.

Campus groups contribute to campaign

BY PATRICK CASEYCONTRIBUTING REPORTER

As election spending reached new highs this year — Connecticut’s Sen-ate race was the sixth most expensive in the country, and spending on the pres-idential race was the highest in history — several student groups on campus have helped contribute to the campaign funds.

In Connecticut, despite Republican candidate Linda McMahon’s 4-to-1 financial advantage over her oppo-nent, Democrat Chris Murphy, she fell to the former representative on Tues-day night. According to OpenSecrets.com, McMahon, whose campaign was 96 percent self-financed, raised $41.5 million dollars and spent $36.1 mil-lion in the 2012 election cycle, a sig-nificantly larger amount than Mur-phy, who raised $9.3 million and spent $8.6 million. In the presidential race, each candidate has spent roughly $1 billion during the course of the elec-tion. As campaign spending reaches historical levels, Yale undergrad-uates have raised money for cam-paigns throughout this election cycle. SNAP PAC, a student-run politi-cal action committee, helped fund the Murphy campaign and several other Senate and congressional campaigns, President Matthew Breuer ’14 said.

“Our organization is a great example of the di!erence between Linda McMa-hon and Chris Murphy,” Breuer said. “We’re a group of college students who are trying to pay to give some people the opportunity to work on a race and make a di!erence on a small level.”

Instead of directly donating money, Breuer said, SNAP works with cam-paign organizers to guarantee that the money goes toward funding a student fellow to work on the campaign for a certain amount of time. According to OpenSecrets.org, the group raised $81,435 — a larger number than the $48,432 they raised in the 2010 cycle — and Breuer said it funded 35 fellows this

year to work on Democratic campaigns across the country.

“Our view is this: You know, anyone can cut a $5,000 check to a campaign they believe in and watch that evapo-rate in 30 seconds on a TV ad,” he said.

Murphy was one of the first candi-dates SNAP chose to endorse shortly after its founding in 2006, when he first ran for Congress, and this summer SNAP sponsored two field organizers on his Senate bid, Breuer said.

The Yale College Democrats have a political action committee called Bull-dog Democrats PAC, but the group uses its PAC funds to support cam-paign-related activities for its members instead of donating directly to candi-dates, said Kyle Tramonte ’15, treasurer of the Yale College Democrats.

But Yale College Republicans Presi-dent Elizabeth Henry ’14 said her orga-nization does not focus its attention on fundraising for campaigns. The group receives funding from the Undergradu-ate Organizations Committee, she said, and does not donate any funds to cam-paigns. She said she thinks that because her group has fewer members than the Dems, the Yale Republicans face less pressure to fundraise and can focus on phone banking, canvassing and other campaign work.

“We do canvassing, but usually it’s paid for by the campaign — we don’t pay for it,” she said. “When we did phone banking for Linda McMahon, the McMahon campaign provided the phones, provided everything for us.”

On the national stage, President Barack Obama’s campaign, the Dem-ocratic National Committee and out-side groups have all put more than $932 million toward Obama’s re-election, compared to $750 million in the 2008 campaign. Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s side has spent close to $1.03 billion on his bid for the White House.

Contact PATRICK CASEY at [email protected] .

BY THE NUMBERS CAMPAIGN SPENDING934.0m Dollars raised by Barack Obama, the Democratic

Party and Priorities USA Action Super PAC.

852.9m Dollars spent by Barack Obama, the Democratic Party and Priorities USA Action Super PAC.

881.8m Dollars raised by Mitt Romney, the Republican Party and Restore Our Future Super PAC.

752.3m Dollars spent by Mitt Romney, the Republican Party and Restore Our Future Super PAC.

REACTIONS FROM PAGE A1

EUGENE YI/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

their run around Old Campus. But the tone on campus was differ-

ent Tuesday night than it was on the eve-ning of Nov. 4, 2008. Most students did not surge onto Old Campus and no 700-person crowd belted the national anthem. Facebook erupted with celebratory statuses, but after the initial cheers, campus was oddly quiet.

“The reaction wasn’t what I hoped it to be,” Azad Amanat ’14 said.

He compared the relatively modest cel-ebrations throughout Yale with a photo his cousin had sent him of a huge celebration at the University of California, Berkeley. Bran-don Jackson ’13, who was at Yale during the 2008 election, said the mood on campus did not compare to that following Obama’s 2008 election.

Despite the election buzz that gripped campus Tuesday, students interviewed said Yale’s relatively liberal student body was more anxious about a Romney victory than they were enthused about an Obama win.

“People who are watching the results come in tonight are expecting relief, not ela-tion, if their candidate wins,” Clair Suler-zyski ’15 said Tuesday afternoon.

When CNN called Obama’s victory shortly after 11 p.m., roughly 100 students watching election coverage on a projector in the Ezra Stiles dining hall cheered, but many soon began gathering their belongings to leave.

A security guard announced the victor over the intercom in Bass Library around 11:30 p.m., said Alex Goel ’14, and later asked students leaving the library, “What are you guys doing studying?”

But Yale College Democrats President Zak Newman ’13 said the turnout rate for Yale students was higher than it was in 2008.

Roughly 1,350 people cast their ballots at the New Haven Public Library, representing New Haven’s Ward 1 voting district, which is composed largely of students.

Activists from both sides kept busy Tues-day, rising early to vote and begin a last can-vassing e!ort. By the time most students rolled out of bed, chalk arrows on the side-walks directed citizens towards the polls, fly-ers and signs coated the campus and the line for the Public Library polling station already snaked out the door.

The Yale College Democrats spent much of the day knocking on doors with clipboards and calling students’ cell phones to remind them to vote.

Elizabeth Henry ’14, chairwoman of the Yale College Republicans, said the group reached out to every Yale student registered to vote Republican in Connecticut, as well as some una"liated students, to make sure they knew where to go to vote.

By the afternoon, the line outside the New Haven Public Library voting station was almost an hour long, with students carry-ing laptops and books while they waited to cast their ballots and emerge from the library with “I voted” stickers.

Throughout the day, Facebook news-feeds exploded with politically-minded sta-tuses, with students proudly declaring they had voted, often for the first time, and urging their peers to do the same.

With the election over, campus was largely still by midnight.

Yuval Ben-David, Je!rey Dastin and Shira Telushkin contributed reporting.

Contact SOPHIE GOULD at [email protected] .

Yale reaction to Obama win subdued


THROUGH THE LENS

THE ELECTION08/27/12-10/03/12

AUG. 27-30, 2012At the 2012 Republican National Conven-tion in Tampa Fla., Romney and Ryan are nominated for President and Vice Presi-dent, respectively.

SEPT. 3-6, 2012At the 2012 Democratic National Conven-tion in Charlotte, N.C., Obama and Biden are nominated for President and Vice Pres-ident, respectively.

SEPT. 11, 2012The U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya is attacked. Ambassador Christopher Stevens is killed.

SEPT. 17, 2012At a fundraising dinner in Boca Raton, Fla., Romney describes “47 percent” of Ameri-cans as recipients of undue entitlements and as guaranteed voters for Obama.

OCT. 3, 2012The first presidential debate is held at the University of Denver in Denver, Co.

Photographers Brianne Bowen, Cynthia Hua, Eugene Yi, Lorenzo Ligato and Sara Miller capture the spirit and excitement of the 2012

elections at Yale and across the country.


BOSTON

THE ELECTION10/11/12–10/29/12

OCT. 11, 2012The vice presidential debate is held at Cen-tre College in Danville, Ky.

OCT. 16, 2012The second presidential debate is held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.

OCT. 22, 2012The third presidential debate is held at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla.

OCT. 25, 2012Obama casts his vote in Chicago, Ill.

OCT. 29, 2012Hurricane Sandy reaches the East Coast, putting the campaign on hold for a few days.

BY MONICA DISARESTAFF REPORTERS

BOSTON — At 7 p.m. on Tuesday night, hundreds of Mitt Romney supporters poured into buses en route to the TD Gar-den convention center, the site of Romney’s Election Night event. The buses’ atmosphere was tense but optimistic. “Alright, this is what we’ve waited so long for,” announced one Romney sup-porter as he climbed on the bus.

When the buses arrive at the convention center, they were greeted by an imposing sign reading “Election Night 2012” and red, white and blue lights projecting an American flag onto the side of the massive sil-ver building. Upon entering, Romney supporters — donned in red, white and blue headbands — were greeted by two large screens displaying the latest election results. Up two flights of stairs sat the ballroom, which held a stage surrounded by flags and patriotic images of eagles.

Mitt Romney took the stage as the failed Republican presiden-tial candidate beneath a sign that read “Believe in America.”

But the action did not start there — throughout the day, Boston’s residents were buzzing about Election Day festivities.

Boston’s polling locations were unusually overcrowded, according to voters interviewed at four polling locations. After waiting for 50 minutes at his polling location in Brookline, Mass., Gerald Selvin predicted that the overcrowding would only get worse — “Tonight [the polls are] going to be chaos.”

By Tuesday afternoon, hun-dreds of people waited in line to vote at Boston City Hall. One woman said she had been voting at Boston City Hall for 40 years, but she had never seen lines as long as Tuesday’s.

“Well, the Eisenhower years were pretty long,” she added.

At the Boston Aquarium, two middle school students and one elementary school student on a

class trip said they had voted for President Obama in their school elections. A banker in the Star-bucks said that he and 90 per-cent of his friends who worked “upstairs” would be casting votes for Romney because they found Romney’s financial poli-cies more business-friendly.

Throughout Boston, bars offered special drinks to cele-brate Election Day, such as the “Libertini”, which consists of stoli sticky, blue curacao, basil and sour, and the “kick-ass,” which contained tequila, red sangria, domaine de danton.

Several people interviewed said they thought the connec-tion between Boston and Rom-ney — the former governor of Massachusetts — had worn thin since he left o!ce in 2007.

“It’s funny to think that the celebration is going to be tonight, downtown at the convention center,” Reed Juckett said in a coffee shop a block away from Romney headquarters, “It’s not like Massachusetts is a toss-up

state.”Ian Vigue, a young voter at a

Hyde Park polling location, said his friends who are “pretty lib-eral” hate it when Romney refers to Massachusetts as “his state.”

Though the general Boston trend seemed to fall in Obama’s favor — he won by roughly 13 percent of the vote in Massachu-setts — several segments of the city came out in favor of Rom-ney. Four small business owners interviewed in Boston’s North End district said they planned to vote for Romney. Albe Alba, the owner of a fruit store, said he appreciates Romney’s education policies during his time as gov-ernor.

But despite Boston’s election buzz, Romney could not win in the state that once elected him governor.

“That’s rough losing the state that your house is in — well, one of your houses,” he said.

Contact MONICA DISARE at [email protected] .

Boston buzzes with election excitement

BY CYNTHIA HUASTAFF REPORTER

BOSTON, Mass. — Although Obama won Massachusetts last night by 23 percentage points as of press time, Gov. Mitt Romney’s headquarters — and the beginnings of his political career — are in Boston.

Several Boston residents inter-viewed on Election Day recalled their largely lukewarm feelings about Rom-ney, who served as the state’s governor from 2003 to 2007. While some citizens said they supported Romney during his gubernatorial campaign, they have since come to identify less with him due to a perceived shift to the right during his presidential campaign.

On the steps of Quincy Market, 25-year-old Lisa Gurin predicted Obama’s win in Massachusetts. Rom-ney finished his term as governor with a 34 percent approval rating, Gurin said, and his popularity among Bostonians has not improved since the end of his term.

North-end resident John Savag-gio, still a student when Romney was elected governor, said his school lost and lacked funding largely due to Rom-ney’s policies. Karen Tokos, a public school teacher at the time, agreed, say-ing that Romney cut both funding and sta!ng at her school.

But one downtown businessman voting Tuesday night at Tufts said that Romney left his governorship after balancing the budget, lowering taxes, reaching across the aisles and improv-ing schools.

“I think he did everything he said he would do,” he added. “The state was left in a good condition.”

Additionally, five Massachusetts res-idents interviewed remembered Rom-ney’s work on health care in a positive light.

Savaggio said that Romney’s unpop-ularity during his term as governor may have resulted from him being “closed o" and inaccessible.” Downtown resi-dent Donna Wol" said she recalls Rom-

ney spending much of his term as gov-ernor on his presidential campaign.

“My sister said to me, ‘He was gov-ernor? I don’t even remember him,’” Wol" said. “He was out of the state as much as he was in it.”

Romney took many trips out-of-state and was largely absent, said Jose Alvarez, who has lived in Boston for over 30 years. Alvarez said he thinks Romney primarily hoped to improve his personal career rather than the lives of Massachusetts’ citizens due to these frequent out-of-town trips.

Gurin said part of her persisting dis-satisfaction with Romney stems from what she perceives as Romney’s shift-ing positions since the start of his presi-dential campaign, particularly on issues related to women’s rights. Savaggio agreed, saying that he “seems to never take a specific point of view on any-thing.”

“When he was governor, he identi-fied with people better — he was sur-rounded by Democrats and more lib-eral,” Gurin said. “Now, he’s in a bubble of Republicans.”

John McCarrick said he still remem-bers casting his vote for Romney that year. Romney’s gubernatorial campaign began much like his presidential cam-paign — he was a “businessman coming in to balance the Commonwealth defi-cit,” McCarrick said.

While Romney has largely advocated for traditionally conservative low-tax policies, Alvarez said that begin-ning around his second term, the years of Romeny’s governorship were “tax-achusetts.”

“When he was governor, this was the highest tax-paying state in the union,” Alvarez said, adding that he noticed price increases even on candy bars at the store.

Romney received his B.A. from Brigham Young University in 1971 and his M.B.A. and J.D. from Harvard Uni-versity in 1975.

Contact CYNTHIA HUA at [email protected] .

Romney’s gubernatorial legacy questioned

CYNTHIA HUA/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, standing alongside their wives, concede the election.

Romney concedes defeat

CYNTHIA HUA/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Though Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is the former governor of Massachusetts, he lost the state by 23 percentage

ELECTION FROM PAGE 1“Paul and I have left every-

thing on the field,” he said.Romney’s speech and the

election’s results drew mixed reactions from the crowd.

Heidi Geiser said she “wished [Romney] had spoken more from the heart” and that she felt the speech sounded rehearsed rather than sincere.

Although Romney’s loss was devastating to many at the con-vention hall, Ryan Laughlin said the Republicans were not as

upset as they could have been, given the party’s loss in 2008.

“Our skin’s a little bit thicker this time around,” Laughlin said.

As Romney supporters left the convention at the end of the night, hope was not completely lost for the Republicans: a man stood on the sidewalk and tried to sell Romney buttons to pass-ersby.

Contact MONICA DISARE at [email protected] .

Contact CYNTHIA HUA at [email protected] .

Paul and I have left everything on the field.

MITT ROMNEY


ELECTION 2012


NOV. 6, 2012Romney casts his vote in Boston, Mass.

NOV. 6, 2012Obama is declared the presumptive presi-dent-elect around midnight.

DEC. 17, 2012The Electoral College formally elects a president and vice president.

JAN. 6, 2013Electoral votes are formally counted before a joint session of Congress. The President of the Senate formally announces the elec-toral result.

JAN. 20, 2013Obama is inaugurated as president.

BY CHRISTOPHER PEAKSTAFF REPORTER

After President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential cam-paign brought record-breaking numbers of young voters to the polls, many pundits thought this year would see far less enthusi-asm.

But over a thousand stu-dents waited outside the Ward 1 New Haven Public Library poll-ing station for over an hour in near-freezing temperatures yes-terday, casting 1,346 votes in the competitive race between former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Obama, who was re-elected. The president won 82 percent of the votes cast in Ward 1, a New Haven voting dis-trict composed almost entirely of Old Campus and eight residential colleges. Former Ward 1 Co-Chair Amalia Skilton ’13 said the num-ber of votes cast by young voters this year may be higher than the number cast in the 2008 election.

“Our generation is extremely liberal compared to the past,” said Cole Florey ’14, who voted for Obama yesterday. “Since a lot of these policies are going to a!ect us the most, youth are excited to vote.”

With a sluggish economy and

many of Obama’s 2008 campaign promises unfulfilled, support for the Democrats among young vot-ers nationally waned in this year’s election, with CBS News’ early exit poll showing Obama leading by a margin of 56 percent to 40 percent, a 10 percent drop from his victory over Republican Sena-tor John McCain in 2008. A study of exit polls by the Pew Research Center in that year concluded that two-thirds of youth voters cast their ballot for Obama, and pundits credited Obama’s victory in Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana to high turnout among those under age 30.

Of 30 students interviewed after voting at the library, 26 said they voted for Obama. The most commonly cited issue that decided whom the voters sup-ported was women’s rights, fol-lowed by healthcare, the econ-omy and gay marriage.

While four of the five voters who cited women’s issues as a key priority voted for Obama, Edu-ardo Andino ’13 said the Republi-can ticket aligned better with his views. Though he acknowledged his vote might not change the election’s outcome in Connecti-cut, Andino said it was important to voice his opinion.

Some of the students took to the polls more out of fear for a Republican victory than out of support for Obama’s policies.

Tess McNulty ’13, an Obama supporter, said she cast her vote for Obama so that Romney could not “deconstruct the progress that we’ve made,” particularly on the issue of healthcare.

Several Yale students entered the voting booth for the first time yesterday. Ruth Nakaar ’14, a first-time voter, said many peo-

ple wrongly blamed the president for not accomplishing enough with his first term when Repub-licans often blocked him in Con-gress.

“Obama has not been given a fair chance these four years,” Nakaar said. “I would hate for him to become a one-term president.”

Michael Zhao ’15, also a first-time voter, aligned with the pres-ident, even though change had not been as sweeping as Obama promised in 2008.

While her father supports

Romney, Rosa Nguyen ’15 voted for Obama, hoping high turnout among the Democratic-leaning youth voters would give Obama four more years in o"ce.

Three of the 30 students inter-viewed voted for the Republican ticket.

Ona McConnell ’14 said she supported Obama in 2008, but she was disappointed with his leadership and voted for Rom-ney yesterday. McConnell said she believed Romney had posi-tioned himself as more conser-

vative during the campaign, but she said she believed he would be more liberal as president, as he had been when he passed health-care legislation as Massachusetts governor.

“I think at the end of the day, if he were to become president, he would not stand by [conser-vative] values as much as he does now,” she said. “I hope Mitt is lying about some of his opinions.”

One of the students turned to a third-party candidate.

Andy Ellis ’15, who said the

most important issue he consid-ered when voting was whether he would have a job when he gradu-ated, voted for Libertarian can-didate Gary Johnson on Tuesday to voice his dissatisfaction with both candidates and the two-party system. Johnson received 22 votes in Ward 1.

Voter turnout in Ward 1 this year nearly doubled compared to the 2010 midterm election.

Contact CHRISTOPHER PEAK at [email protected] .

Ward 1 voters support Obama

BY DAN WEINERSTAFF REPORTER

Though last week’s hurricane complicated voting for many in the Northeast Tuesday, most Yale students surveyed from the a!ected states said the condi-tions did not impact their abil-ity to vote.

New York and New Jersey took drastic measures to facili-tate voting. Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York temporarily suspended portions of the state’s election law to allow those dis-placed by Hurricane Sandy to vote in any precinct they could reach. In New Jersey, the state’s chief election o"cial Kim Guad-agno said anyone a!ected by the storm could vote at their most accessible site. On Tuesday, only two of Connecticut’s 773 polling locations were without power — a significant decrease from the 100 locations left in the dark last Wednesday after Sandy knocked out power across the state.

“Once again I am very proud of the hard work and dedication of our local election administra-tors in Connecticut, who for the second year in a row dealt with a major weather disaster just a week prior to Election Day and came together to make sure all of us could cast ballots,” Connecti-cut Secretary State Denise Mer-rill said in a press release Mon-day.

Nine of 10 Yale students from New York City interviewed Tuesday evening said the storm did not impact their ability to vote. Many reported that they had already registered in Con-necticut and were able to vote with relatively little trouble around New Haven throughout Tuesday.

Julian Drucker ’16, from the Upper West Side New York City, said in an email that he does not personally know anybody from

home whose voting ability was a!ected by the storm.

But Juliet deButts ’14, who lives near Drucker and is regis-tered to vote in New York City, said in an email that Hurricane Sandy prevented her from vot-ing today. Though she submitted an application for an absentee ballot, deButts said the hurri-cane must have delayed the mail because she never received her ballot.

New Jersey took the extra step of allowing displaced voters to submit their ballots by email or fax. The state classified these displaced individuals as overseas residents, allowing them to sub-mit an electronic ballot appli-cation to receive a ballot via fax or email. On Tuesday, election o"cials in New Jersey extended the voting deadline, giving these displaced voters until Friday to submit their ballots by fax or email.

As of early Wednesday morn-ing, President Obama was expected to win in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut by large margins.

Contact DAN WEINER at [email protected] .

Despite Sandy,

Yalies vote

BY APSARA IYER, TIANYI PANCONTRIBUTING REPORTERS

Though Election Night brought stu-dents together in dorm rooms and din-ing halls, a small group of Yale students followed the results from o"ces across America and presidential campaign headquarters.

At least seven students left Yale this fall semester to volunteer on presidential and congressional campaigns, following in the footsteps of those in the past who worked for Obama and other campaigns in 2008. Students who volunteered for campaigns in 2012 and 2008 stressed the significance of Election Night, having followed the race for months as sta!ers.

Yale students working for the Obama campaign watched from various head-quarter sites as voting results came in throughout the night. As Obama’s vic-tory was called, they said they felt exhil-arated after returning to the campaign o"ce.

“It’s unbelievable … I don’t think I’ve really been part of something so big, and I’ve put so much blood and tears into it. It’s been so long a road, and I worked with these people for so long, and for so many hours,” said Cody Pomeranz ’15, who worked as a 2012 summer intern at the Obama communications o"ce in Penn-sylvania, from a victory party at the cam-paign’s Pennsylvania o"ce. “Just to be at the victory party and see the screen call for the president is so rewarding — it’s a big pay o!.”

JD Sagastume ’14, who spent this past semester coordinating canvassing e!orts for Obama in Michigan and later from campaign headquarters in Chicago,

said he felt “very happy and exhilarated” when Michigan was called for Obama Tuesday night.

“Though it wasn’t really a surprise, it was still very vindicating to know that I helped with that,” Sagastume said.

Although he said he was not surprised by the outcome of Tuesday’s presidential race, Zac Krislov ’15 said working for the Obama campaign was a “a tremendous experience” that allowed him to meet people from many di!erent backgrounds. Students who worked on the 2008 cam-paigns shared a feeling of regret at being less involved during this election cycle.

Tom Dec ’13, who worked for Con-gressman Jim Himes, who represents Connecticut’s 4th Congressional Dis-trict, celebrated his victory early Tues-day night, after Himes’ victory was cele-brated uno"cially by campaign workers.

“We just got our results back and are going to the victory party now,” Dec said at around 9 p.m. Tuesday. “It’s a fantas-tic experience.”

While attending Himes’s victory party, the outcome of the presidential race was called, declaring victory for President Obama. Dec said Obama’s re-election sent a “strong message” from the public that Obama’s vision of the country was one they supported and one they wanted

to see in the next four years.Students who worked for the 2008 and

2012 campaigns in specific states said they felt personally invested in the elec-tion results of those states.

“It was definitely nice when the race was called for Obama [in 2008], but the prize was when North Carolina’s votes were finally tabulated and called for Obama a few days later. When I heard he won by 6000 votes, I broke down cry-ing,” said Joe Charlet ’12, who worked for Obama’s 2008 campaign.

Audrey Huntington ’12, who took a semester o! from Yale in 2008 because she was “really concerned about the [election’s] outcome,” said she consid-ered quitting her current job to volun-teer for Obama’s 2012 campaign. Though her faith in an Obama victory stopped her from doing so, Huntington still expressed frustration at not being as involved this year as she was in the 2008 election. Though she donated money to Obama’s 2012 campaign, she found it “incredibly frustrating” that she could not partici-pate more directly.

“I’ve been involved a tiny bit in this election, canvassing on a weekend or two, but it’s not a fraction of what I did in ’08. It’s been frustrating just watching it unfold and not having a part in it,” Hun-tington said.

Yale students involved in campaigns for the 2012 presidential race worked in Michigan, Virginia, Illinois, New York and Connecticut.

Contact APSARA IYER at [email protected].

Contact TIANYI PAN at [email protected] .

Student campaigners track results

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CHARLES ARBOGAST/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Yale students watched the election results from locations across the country where they were working on campaigns.

Obama has not been given a fair chance these four years. I would hate for him to be a one-term president.

RUTH NAKAAR ’14

Our local election administrators in Connecticut, for the second year in a row, dealt with a major weather disaster just a week prior to Election Day.

DENISE MERRILLSecretary of State, Connecticut

It’s unbelievable … I’ve put so much blood and tears into it.

CODY POMERANZ ’15Intern, Pennsylvania Obama communications o!ce

GRAPH YOUTH VOTE (18-29): DEMOCRATS VS. REPUBLICANS

Percentage of youth vote

1996 2000 2004 2008

Vote for Democrats

Vote for Republicans


THE RESULTSBREAKING DOWN THE RED AND BLUE

INDIANA11 Electoral Votes

The state’s electoral votes went to Republicans in 1996, 2000 and 2004. Obama reversed this trend in 2008, but Romney recaptured Indiana with 54 percent of the vote in 2012.

OHIO20 Electoral Votes

No Republican presidential nominee has ever won the White House without winning Ohio, and this year was no exception. When Ohio’s electoral votes could be reliably counted towards the Democratic candidates, major news outlets declared an Obama victory.

PENNSYLVANIA21 Electoral Votes

Another classic swing state, Pennsylvania’s elec-toral votes went to Obama after he won 56 percent of the vote in 2008. Obama won the state again in 2012, this time with 51 percent.

FLORIDA27 Electoral Votes

A perennial battleground state that President Bush won by 5 points in 2004, Florida — with 27 electoral votes — went to Obama in 2008 and is expected to again, as of publication.

NORTH CAROLINA15 Electoral Votes

North Carolina had reliably voted Republican for years, but intensive Obama campaign and voter-registration drives turned the state blue in 2008. Romney recaptured the state’s 15 electoral votes in 2012.

ELECTORAL VOTE BREAKDOWN

OBAMA TOTAL 303

ROMNEY TOTAL 206Alabama 9Alaska 3Arizona 11Arkansas 6Georgia 16Idaho 4Indiana 11Kansas 6Kentucky 8Louisiana 8Mississippi 6Missouri 10

Montana 3Nebraska 5North Carolina 15North Dakota 3Oklahoma 7South Carolina 9South Dakota 3Tennessee 11Texas 38Utah 6West Virginia 5Wyoming 3

Florida 29, too close to call as of press time.

California 55Colorado 9Connecticut 7Delaware 3Hawaii 4Illinois 20Iowa 6Maine 4Maryland 10Massachusetts 11Michigan 16Minnesota 10New Hampshire 4

New Jersey 14New Mexico 5New York 29Nevada 6Ohio 18Oregon 7Pennsylvania 20Rhode Island 4Vermont 3Virginia 13 Washington, D.C. 3Washington 12Wisconsin 10

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SENATE

CONGRESSIONAL BREAKDOWN

52 (+1) 44 (-2)

TOO CLOSE TO CALLDEMOCRATREPUBLICANINDEPENDENT

226 173 (+1)

* Democratic total includes Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont,

who caucuses with the Democrats. Data accurate as of press time.

*

NEW YORK TIMES

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Documents

2012 Election Supplement