At 12:42 a.m. on Wednesday, Fox News called Ohio for President George W. Bush. The crowd of about 60 College Republicans in the McDowell Hall Formal Lounge drew closer to the screen, screaming their support for the president. Each state victory evoked cheers - at double decibels for swing states.
"It's leaning but we can't call it..." said Fox anchor Brit Hume about Iowa.
"Call it!" several shouted.
With GOP victories sweeping both the House and Senate, enthusiasm ran high.
"I love it," said freshman John Zevitas. "This atmosphere is electric."
The lounge was lined with Bush-Cheney banners and congressional campaign signs, symbols of the effort the College Republicans have contributed to Republican efforts across the country.
"We poured our hearts out in this campaign, and it makes the victory that much more exciting," said Mike Inganamort, president of the College Republicans. Collectively, the College Republicans have totaled 1,252 hours on the campaign trail this season, according to Inganamort.
Many showed their support by sporting Bush shirts, ties and stickers. Some shirts read, "Friends don't let friends vote Democrat" and "John Kerry for President - of France." Joy Downey, a senior in the School of International Service, wore her Halloween costume: a skirt and sash made of plastic Bush-Cheney banners.
"I've been campaigning all month and I didn't have any money," she said. "For this, all I had to pay for was staples and duct tape."
"Nice Bush couture!" a friend told her.
Senior Faith Sleeper wore an apron made out of the same banners. Earlier she worked with Downey to make GOP cookies in the shape of elephants and W's.
Senior Heather Blandford brought her George W. Bush doll, which spews campaign rhetoric when pressed.
"I have a Reagan one too," Blandford said. "It's a little creepy, I know, but you've got to love the political paraphernalia."
When one of the College Republicans brought in a cardboard cutout of Bush, the crowd greeted it with cheers.
The scene was surprising to Anne Haakesman de Koster, who was visiting AU from Holland and chose to spend part of her evening with the College Republicans.
"I thought John Kerry would win, but then I came here," she said. "It's crazy."
She said that in Holland, the government and the people disagree with the war in Iraq. Five out of 150 members of Holland's parliament support Bush. The election is very important to Holland's people, and they watch it almost as closely as Americans do, she said.
Charlie Weimers, a Washington Semester student from Sweden, said the sentiments are similar in his country.
"I'm one of the few Europeans who support Bush," he said. "He's an inspiration to the few European conservatives that struggle with big government."
He pointed out that taxes in Sweden are on average 63 percent of a citizen's income.
Weimers reported on the election for Swedish radio from a studio in Georgetown. Before he left the celebration to go on the air at 1 a.m., he said he planned to report on the differences between American elections and Swedish ones.
One major difference he noted was the level of student involvement in politics.
"[In Sweden], many students are just not interested," he said.
Here, he found himself surrounded by students whose passion is politics.
While professional pundits made predictions on Fox News, their campus counterparts discussed the GOP victories.
"Oh! Double blow for the Democratic Party there," said freshman Jason Dombrowski when Republican John Thune beat Senate minority leader Tom Daschle in South Dakota.
"I think they're going to have to reform the ideology of their party," freshman Kenny Williams said of the Democrats. "They try to appeal to moderates too much."
With the next four years secured, the College Republicans discussed the future of the GOP beyond Bush's presidency.
"We're going to try to stave off the beast called Hillary," junior Todd Matthy said, referring to New York Sen. Hillary Clinton (D). Matthy lives in New York and said Clinton is "using [his] state."
Gary Wright, assistant vice president of Campus Life, was in charge of ensuring that election night celebrations didn't get out of hand. At the College Republicans party, he found no riots but plenty of the political passion that he said makes AU stand out.
"What I take a certain pride in is that when it comes to politics, AU students are there," he said. "That's what makes AU unique."
Graduate student Nathaniel Kulyk said he came to AU to study history and politics.
"This is right up my alley," Kulyk said. "This is fascinating stuff for me."
He said that the College Republicans celebration is the best place for campus conservatives like himself to spend election night. Freshman Daniel Hakimian agreed.
"I just want to be with all the people who know they're making the right decision," Hakimian said, as the crowd erupted in cheers when Fox News announced another congressional win.
In between triumphs, many of the students logged on to Web sites to keep track of the numbers and calculate the possibility of victory.
"Who's got the popular vote?" Kulyk asked freshman Mike Crowley, who stared intently at his computer.
"Bush," Crowley confirmed.
"Good," Kulyk said. "If Bush has the popular vote then there's no reason for the Democrats to contest it."
Around 3 a.m. it became clear that victory belonged to Bush, and the College Republicans knew that his win was definite.
"If the Democrats took this election to court, it would make me physically sick," Inganamort said. "Bush won. It's over. End it"
