Celebrations for Sen. Barack Obama began early in the evening on Super Tuesday in New York City.
At Lola, on Watts Street in between West Broadway and Thompson Street, a relatively sedate crowd drank cognac by candlelight beneath a flat screen television tuned to CNN. Obama’s first victory, in Georgia, was met with warm but subdued applause by the crowd of mostly thirty-something attorneys.
Robin Johnson, an African American attorney who grew up in the South and moved to New York City after college, said that her parents recalled being denied the vote during their youth in the South. As a result, she has always cherished the opportunity to exercise her rights. “Voting was like communion in my household,” Johnson said.
Johnson originally supported John Edwards, even traveling to New Hampshire to volunteer for his campaign during the primary. But when Edwards dropped out, she did not hesitate to support Obama’s campaign. She was very pleased with the victory in Georgia, a state she understood to be predominantly white.
For Johnson, Obama’s victories are evidence that “young voters are free from the prejudice of the past,” she said. “I didn’t think I would live to see that in my lifetime.”
At Tonic, on 3rd Avenue, a younger and more rambunctious crowd of Obama supporters were enlivened by what they saw as great results at the polls. English, Spanish and Russian could be overheard among the partiers wearing “Students for Obama” t-shirts and jeans that peppered the lively venue.
The packed club hosted what was billed as the “unofficial official Obama event.” Leaders of the campaign and the press celebrated the close of Super Tuesday together in a more spirited fashion than their compatriots further downtown at Lola.
Arthur Leopold, a 19-year old New Yorker, postponed college for a year to work on the Obama campaign. The youngest person on the campaign’s finance committee, Leopold has been working for the campaign since January of 2007. He felt that everyone in the Obama camp was positive tonight, even though the results were not totally clear.
“We may not win the needed delegates, but we are going to focus on this win for right now,” he said.
As the news of Obama’s victory in Delaware was announced Leopold screamed “Yeah baby!” and explained that just a week earlier Obama was 25 points behind in the polls.
Leopold had lunch with Clinton a couple of years ago and that day decided to join the Obama campaign. The energy of the Obama campaign is what attracted Leopold to it. “The level of excitement that Obama has created among the youth is unmatched,” he said.
Alex Smith, 25, told his boss weeks in advance that he would be volunteering for Obama on Super Tuesday. Smith was on his feet for about 10 hours today, and said he felt a lot of animosity from Clinton supporters.
“The day was very, very hard and very, very rewarding,” said Smith. “I really feel like I am part of something. It’s rewarding because I really believed in Obama,” said Smith, who exemplified the victorious spirit that prevailed at the party.