The euphoria over Frank Lautenberg’s victory in the New Jersey Senate race faded quickly at an election-night party that Liat Gilboa, a New York University student, hosted in her high-rise Jersey City studio apartment. “What’s up with this country? I can’t believe this is happening,” Gilboa said, as national results revealed the Republicans won control over both the House and the Senate.
All of the people who came to the party are students in the Newark metro area. They gathered in high spirits. All voted for the Democratic candidates in their hometowns earlier that day and went to Gilboa’s place to watch the results together.
They passed around snacks and drinks along with the remote control. Channels were zapped rapidly from News 12 to NJN to CNN to MSNBC to FOX News and back.
At times it seemed the people had more fun comparing the channels’ credibility than getting the actual results. It was acknowledged by all of them that what happened in 2000 was “reckless reporting,” as one of the students, John Mansilla said, and that “this time around they are being very cautious in their predictions.”
It was a long, gripping night with several close races, but the Republican trend was felt early on. “That’s it. It’s over,” said Gilboa after the Republicans won the New Hampshire Senate race. Her friends said it was too early and that they still had a chance while they changed the television channel in hopes of getting some encouraging news.
At 10:40 p.m., Frank Lautenberg delivered his victory speech in front of a cheering crowd of supporters in New Brunswick. At that point people in the room were still quite enthusiastic. Gilboa turned the volume up as they all quieted down to listen.
Lautenberg’s speech included many thanks and promises, but also some cynical remarks about his opponent, Douglas Forrester. “Why would he do that? That’s really low,” Mansilla said, responding to Lautenberg’s statement calling Forrester “his constituent.” The others agreed, and Gilboa added that it was an “arrogant remark to make.”
Gilboa and her friends were all pleased with Lautenberg’s victory. But during the night and into the early morning hours as the other results accumulated, the mood turned grim. Nobody wanted to play with the remote control anymore.
“This is depressing—what happened?” Mansilla said, sparking a debate about whom to blame. Most felt that it was the Democratic leadership’s fault. “They were too afraid to oppose the president,” Mansilla said. “They should’ve stood up to him and offered an alternative.”
Some of the races were still undetermined, but it was after 2 a.m. and people decided to go home. They were tired and disappointed, but firm in their beliefs nonetheless. “We’ll come back in ’04,” Gilboa said. “You’ll see.”
Yaniv Gafner, a journalism and media studies major at Rutgers-Newark, is a student in the fall 2002 course Basic Reporting.
