Homer Alaska - News -

Democrats leapt to their feet at the news, arms raised high, pumping fists and screaming. Between toasts and handshakes, many hugged, and even more wept.

"Woohoo! What else can you say?" said Liz Villarreal, an alternate delegate for Obama to the Democratic Party National Convention who watched Obama's acceptance speech at Denver's Mile High Stadium with her husband, Josiah Campbell, on what they called their honeymoon. "We can be proud of our country again. Look at all these people. This is democracy. It's crazy. It's amazing."

Obama-Biden supporters had been hopeful but nervous as national returns trickled in.

"This is where I watched the last three elections," said Bob Shavelson. "The last two were pretty painful, but I figure the third time's the charm."

Local Democrats excited by the national election Obama-Biden had an office in Homer also inspired Democratic Party candidates for Congress to make several trips to the lower Kenai Peninsula sometimes with national network press in tow, as when CNN filmed a Saturday appearance at Captain's Coffee by Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, hoping to unseat Sen. Ted Stevens. Democrat Ethan Berkowitz, running against Rep. Don Young, also visited Homer.

That campaigning paid off locally for Begich and Berkowitz, who won District 35. Begich won with 2,712 votes to Stevens with 2,395; Berkowitz beat Young by a squeaker, 2,578 to 2,564.

At press time, with at least 40,000 statewide absentee ballots uncounted and with Stevens holding a lead of 3,353 votes, the U.S. Senate race remained undecided. Young had a solid 16,887 vote statewide lead over Berkowitz.

That tight race wasn't reflected in the local presidential results. Nor were national results. Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin won 3,102 votes to Obama and Sen. Joe Biden's 2,144 votes. Statewide, McCain-Palin won 136,348 votes, or 61.19 percent, to Obama-Biden's 80,340 votes, or 36.05 percent, giving the Republican Party ticket Alaska's three electoral votes.

In relatively quiet corners of Alice's Tuesday night, people called on cell phones to share the excitement with family and friends in the Lower 48. Switchboards jammed up from California to New England.

Some people came to the bar straight from voting. Even though the national election might have been decided by 7 p.m., key Alaska races were up for grabs. As people moved through the crowd, they gave friends high-fives or hugs a lot of hugs.

As they celebrated Obama's victory at Alice's, his supporters pondered the significance.

"I'm so happy," said Sally Oberstein, her arm around her son. "My kid has a future."

"This is better than Christmas 10-times over," said Sharon Bushell.

As the news broadcast McCain's concession speech almost an hour before Alaska polls closed, the Alice's crowd listened respectfully, even applauding for several lines and the graciousness of McCain's comments.

"My friends, we have come to the end of a long journey," McCain said. "It is natural to feel some disappointment, but tomorrow we must move beyond it to get our country moving again."

That disappointment, mixed with frustration, was felt by McCain and Palin's local supporters listening to elections results at home Tuesday night.

Photo by Jay Schmutzler Brandt Apiki brandishes his message of unity less than 20 minutes after a rally by both McCain and Obama supporters Tuesday afternoon.

That Alaskans were still voting when Obama's win was announced frustrated Becker.

"I don't know what it would take to change that, but I think there should be no counting until the last polling places close down," she said.

Alaska's support of McCain gave Becker reason to rejoice.

"I'm really proud of Alaska," she said. "They really turned out in force. It sort of makes me feel that Alaska what we have to say, what we do, who we are in the big scale of America they're not paying much attention to us."

Becker also was pleased by the congressional election results and philosophical about the close call for Stevens and Young.

"I'm pleased so far at this point," she said late Tuesday night. "It gives both Don Young and Senator Stevens a wake-up call to listen to people. I think both men worked extra hard."

For Leonard Miller, the Republican precinct committeeman for Fritz Creek, McCain's reputation as a maverick did more harm than good.

"One thing that was difficult for McCain was that he was very quick to jump across the aisle and he wasn't seen as a real principled candidate," Miller said. "How do you get people to support your party when you're a maverick?"

Election results were a reminder to Miller of the need for continued involvement.

"I think as long as we continue to promote our platform and stick to our principles, that eventually we'll see a swing again," he said.

McCain-Palin supporters also considered what the future holds for Gov. Palin now that she's had a taste for national politics. Among them were relatives living in Homer.

"This couple of months has given her outstanding experience," said Audrey Rearden, Todd Palin's aunt. "We've had calls from friends all over the country and they were just quite taken with Sarah and Todd and all the children."

For now, as McCain urged in his election night comments, the assignment is to move forward.

"If you look at the history of politics in the United States, basically you'll see it's been on an even keel for the past 100 years," said Doug Stark. "People make a lot of promises to supporters and then they find that basically they have to be pretty much middle of the road."

When Obama stepped onto the podium at his victory rally in Grant Park, Chicago, the crowd at Alice's fell silent. Many cried openly.

When celebrants in Chicago shouted "Yes we can!" as Obama led the refrain, Homer echoed the cry.

"It's renewed my faith in this country," said Jeanne Parker.

"We're changing the world. It's a revolution," said Olga Van Ziegesar.

Exciting as the election had been, Becker expressed a sentiment probably common to many, loser or victor.

"I'm really just glad this thing's over with," she said.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com. McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibben.jackinsky@homernews.com. Aaron Selbig can be reached at aaron.selbig@homernews.com.