Ringed by five big-screen televisions blaring news anchors and pundits tracking every electoral shift, Republicans celebrated, speculated and cheered for hours Tuesday night, awaiting a conclusion to the presidential election.
Mark Cavaliere, chairman of the New Mexico Tech College Republicans, said he is confident the final vote tally would shine on President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
"Whether you're Republican or not, you can clearly see that Bush is a leader, whereas Kerry is a politician," Cavaliere said. "We're going to win it, but they're going to draw it out as long as possible. I'm going to pray that I can make it if Kerry wins."
Cavaliere said he and his fellow College Republicans have been campaigning relentlessly, holding at least one event per week since September.
"I've been going full throttle for so long," he said. "I'm going to take it easy for a while."
By 10:50 p.m., Jeremiah Ritchie, acting state chair of the New Mexico Federation of College Republicans, was optimistic Bush would win at any moment, but said he is not worried if the outcome is otherwise.
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"Life goes on either way," he said. "I'll keep fighting for a lot of the issues. The president's seat is not the only one."
Fox News was media of choice last night. It was projected onto a wall-sized screen and drew the largest audience at the Albuquerque Mariott.
Vice presidential candidate John Edwards' announcement Democrats would "fight for every vote" was met with boos and shouts as the buoyant mood in the ballroom was replaced with uncertainty and frustration.
The crowd, angered by the slow pace and reluctance of news outlets to declare a winner, erupted into chants of "Call it!"
John Varoz, a UNM College Republican, said media outlets would not announce a victory for Bush because of their premature announcements during the 2000 presidential race.
"A lot of news organizations are hesitant to jump the gun without some final tallies on some absentee ballots," he said. "Other than that, I don't think overseas absentee ballots are going to count for that much."
Lucina Kress, the director of minority outreach for University of Arizona's College Republicans, traveled to Albuquerque to work the swing state in the closing hours of the election.
"There was so much more intensity (in New Mexico)," she said, adding caution to her optimism. "I do not feel like it's decided here. We felt a very strong Bush and Cheney presence here, but they call it swing states for a reason. If there's any undecided voters, I don't know what they're deciding on."
