Backers go from glum to giddy
From the drab decor, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s election night party looked as if her campaign was fully expecting a loss -- maybe a big loss.
Herded into the gymnasium at Southern New Hampshire University, Clinton supporters gathered under retracted basketball hoops, amid wooden bleachers. Food was as simple as it gets: $1.50 hot dogs sold at a nearby concession stand. No open bar or well-stocked buffet as the campaign had rolled out the night of the Iowa caucus last week.
All evening Clinton aides said they were nervous, mindful that a loss in New Hampshire just five days after her defeat in Iowa could prove fatal.
“I feel numb,” Ann Lewis, a senior advisor, said in an interview.
But when the results started coming in, and Clinton’s early advantage showed no sign of erosion, the gym was transformed. Could polls that showed Sen. Barack Obama leading by a dozen points in New Hampshire have been so wrong? The crowd started to believe.
“Hillary!” they chanted. “Hillary!”
Terry McAuliffe, the campaign chair, hustled in to give some TV interviews before the final outcome was known. He was excited, but cautious. “No matter what happens,” he said, “it’s a big win for Hillary Clinton.”
Then the TV networks projected Clinton as the winner.
“It’s a big win, baby!” McAuliffe said, and ran off.
As one network after another proclaimed Clinton the victor, a fresh wave of cheers rose up from the crowd -- a young crowd. Aides danced to the song “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” They hugged one another -- twice, three times, four times.
The night of the Iowa defeat, Clinton was surrounded on stage by an older generation of political figures: former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Gen. Wesley Clark.
This time, the TV cameras beamed images of a gym filled with young people -- a message that Clinton isn’t just the candidate of the geriatric set.
When she was done with her victory speech, a single campaign aide standing on a balcony threw a few handfuls of confetti onto the celebrants below.
It was as if no one expected confetti might be needed.
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