Wednesday, November 8, 2000

1) Swatties pack into Tarble for Election Night
2) World news roundup
3) Campus events

Today: Partly sunny. Highs in the mid 60s.
Pardon me if I can’t think of anything funny right now.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy. Lows in the upper 40s.
It’s 5:00 in the morning and I’m trying to figure out how many people I know who live in Florida.

Tomorrow: High chance of rain. Highs in the low 60s.
Guess it’s less than 50,000

TODAY’S SHARPLES MENU

Lunch: Turkey meatloaf with mushroom gravy, steamed rice, *vegetable lo-mein, spinach souffle, succotash, cut green beans
**Asian bar

Dinner: Fresh fish, scalloped potatoes, *cajun black beans, pasta & sauce, broccoli, mixed vegetables
**Pasta bar

1) Swatties pack into Tarble for Election Night

As midnight came and went, the result of the presidential election was still very much in the air, and very few of the hundreds of Swatties crammed into Upper Tarble had any plans to leave.

Many filtered out by the time 2:30 came around and CNN first estimated that George W. Bush had won the election, but the 50 strong who gutted it out let out a collective sigh of pure exhaustion.

Well, 45 of them, anyway. A group of five College Republicans let out a collective “Yeeaaaahhhhh” in response to Bush’s victory. They proceeded to jump up and down, exchanging high-fives.

With a huge video projection screen and two smaller televisions blaring CNN’s coverage of Election Night, hundreds packed in to Upper Tarble to let out all their frustrations, anxieties, and nervousness at each call.

While the crowd was mostly Democratic, as evidenced by the preponderance of Gore/Lieberman propaganda and the audible cheers at every Gore victory, a strong contingent of Bush followers made their presence felt, and an equally strong group of Nader supporters were seen and heard as well.

By the end, the common sentiment was, “I’m so tired, I can’t take any more of this.” Also heard around the room was one student saying, “This is boring – I’m going to inhale the helium in this election balloon.”

Perhaps the most common sentiment regarding the excruciatingly long evening was brought up by E.B. Fortier ’03 when she said, “I want to beat my head against a wall and scream.”

The campus now faces the fact that this election isn’t over.

– Jeff Heckelman

2) World news roundup

At 2:30 a.m. EST, news services around the country proclaimed George W. Bush the 43rd President of the United States. A victory in Florida was assured, they said – Bush was the clear winner. Well, as of 5:18 a.m., the headline on the New York Times says the following: “Bush, Gore locked in tight race as votes in Florida face recount; Dramatic night of reversals leaves contest undecided.” Once 100 percent of the precincts in Florida reported, each candidate had 49% of the vote, with Bush leading by just over 1,200 votes out of nearly six million cast. Officials said that Florida law requires a recount when the initial count shows a margin of victory of less than one-half of one percent. The numbers cited have Bush leading by just 2/100ths of one percent. The national vote was nearly as close, with a margin of less than one percent out of over 100 million votes cast. It could wind up being the closest popular vote and the closest electoral vote in the nation’s history. Gore called Bush to concede the election and congratulate him early this morning, after the networks called Bush the winner of Florida and the presidency, but the vice president called back later to retract the concession, according to advisers.

Stay tuned. ….

3) Campus events

“Novelty in the Late Devonian (370 MYA): Freshwater Ecosystems and the Evolution of Limbs” by Ted Daeschler, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia
Kirby Lecture Hall, 4:15 p.m.

“Policing the Social Order: The Poor, the Family, and Public Space in Late Ottoman Istanbul” by Mine Ener, Villanova University
Scheuer Room, 4:30 p.m.

Corporate Executive Board Information Session Bond
Memorial Hall, 7:00 p.m.

Film Showing: The Searchers
LPAC Cinema, 7:00 p.m.

French Movie Night
Kohlberg 116, 7:00 p.m.

Screening of Stand and Deliver
Kohlberg 334, 7:30 p.m.

Italian Movie Night
Kohlberg 330, 8:00 p.m.

Film Society Screening
DuPont 161, 10:00 p.m.

Folk Song Sing-Along
Parrish Parlor – West, 10:00 p.m.

1) World sports roundup

Lakers lost, Knicks won. Sorry – priorities tonight.

2) Today’s and tomorrow’s contests

There are no contests scheduled for today or tomorrow.