Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Election Night at the Marin Democratic Headquarters

I've covered a lot of election night results over the years all over the country but I never quite had the experience I had photographing volunteers and staff members at the Marin Democratic Headquarters celebrate President Barack Obama's re-election victory for the Marin IJ last night.
Signs of Obama supporters were everywhere as the election results started tricking in for the Presidential election...
And life-sized cardboard cutouts of the President were everywhere in the building.
The group of a few hundred supporters prepared to hunker down for a long night of vote counting.
But surprisingly a bit after 8 pm local time the networks called the race for Obama.  And pandemonium  ensued.

People grabbed the life-sized cutout of the President and body-surfed him over the crowd like he was a rock star at a concert.
And groups couldn't wait to have their picture taken with the "President."
As boys and girls of all ages celebrated the victory...
...some people kept checking the results on their computers as the vote count in Ohio got very close and the Romney campaign did not immediately concede the election. 
Eventually late in the evening Romney conceded and most of the crowd stayed to watch Obama's acceptance speech.  However not everyone was able to keep their eyes open that late past their bedtime.

I've always loved covering elections and election nights, but what I experienced on Tuesday was quite an experience.

You can see more of my photos and other photographs from the Marin IJ staff on their election story