Somber Fans Gather to Support Kerry

BOSTON — More than an hour before Kerry spoke at Faneuil Hall today, thousands of people flooded the plaza around the stately brick building, bearing Kerry signs and somber expressions.

Even after the hall filled to capacity and the doors shut, the crowd remained outside to await the arrival of the Massachusetts senator, steeling themselves against a cold, blustery wind that sent golden leaves spiraling through the air.

“I’m grieving deeply,” said Naomi Feingold, a 47-year-old midwife from Milton, Mass. “I think this is a horrible blow to the United States. I am truly saddened for this country today, because I feel like this puts us on such a wrong course.”

Feingold said her 14-year-old daughter had helped her make phone calls urging voters to back Kerry, and was bitterly disappointed at his loss. She was home sick Tuesday, but begged her mother to go to Faneuil Hall and show Kerry their support.

Feingold blamed the Democrat’s loss on “fear of change” in the country.

“I think there were some mistakes made early in the Kerry campaign that allowed Bush to continue to just hammer home the flip-flopping aspect,” she said. “And I hate to say it, but I think the Christian right has a huge influence right now in this country, and it’s not my idea of morality.”

Matthew Hogan, 22, wandered the plaza listlessly with his golden retriever, Cassidy, who bore a Kerry button on his collar.

“I was looking for a little closure by coming down here,” said Hogan, a 22-year-old Boston University student who volunteered on Kerry’s campaign. “I think I had my hopes up so high for Kerry to win I haven’t even comprehended it. It’s a lot to deal with.”

The mood was subdued as the largely youthful crowd quietly discussed the outcome and dissected Kerry’s loss as they waited for him to arrive.

“I really don’t think it was the military stuff,” one man said to a friend. “I think it was the waffling.”

A group of about 20 college students bearing hand-lettered signs fastened out of cardboard boxes that read “Don’t give up” marched defiantly around the plaza. They chanted, “Every vote counts, count every vote!” and “No surrender, no retreat!” — the latter the lyrics to Kerry’s campaign theme song.

Their passion drew smiles from many supporters and smatterings of applause.

“We felt it was inappropriate to ever decide an election, to ever stop counting until every vote has been counted, because everyone is as equally as important as the next,” said Jessica Posner, an 18-year-old student at Emerson College who took part in the demonstration.

Posner said she felt Kerry was “letting everyone down” by conceding.

“I feel in some ways it’s not up to him,” she said. “The entire country votes and the fact that CNN, what they decide, should not count as my vote. That’s not what a democracy is. We voted. We want to know what the final numbers are.”

She called the idea of Bush’s second term “terrifying.”

“My generation will be dealing with his war, fighting his war, paying the debt that he racks up,” she said.

Standing on the other side of the plaza bearing a sign that read “Thank you, Kerry,” Trevor Wright agreed.

“It’s scary — the two Supreme Court justices that are going to be elected, they could overturn Roe v. Wade, Alaska being opened for oil,” said Wright, a 19-year-old student at Fisher College.

“I hope that we don’t give up, and that we don’t give up on democracy,” he added. “We really need to focus on the House of Representatives and the Senate. They’re both red, and now we have a red White House.

“It’s one of the saddest days of the year,” Wright added.

When Kerry’s motorcade rolled up to Faneuil Hall slowly about 2 p.m., the plaza filled with cheers and applause, as people perched on ledges to get a glimpse of the candidate.

Inside the bar at McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood restaurant, patrons fell silent, their eyes glued to two television sets, when Kerry finally took the stage and delivered his concession speech. Many clapped intermittently.

Over at a corner table, Boston University students Viviana Perez and Muriel Weberbauer watched with tears rolling down their faces.

“It’s really upsetting,” said Weberbauer, 21. “It’s the future of our country.”

Perez, also 21, choked back sobs as she stared incredulously at the television.

“This is our first election and we really believed so wholeheartedly in every single issue that he was for, and to see this happen — I didn’t contemplate that Bush was going to win again,” she said. “It wasn’t a possibility.”