A crowd of politically active students and professors gathered in Billy Blues Alumni Grill to watch President Barack Obama win a second term as president on election night. This election was not the only race being closely watched, as senate and house positions were also determined.

Management professor Todd Darnold wasn’t surprised by Obama’s victory, but he was surprised by how lopsided the competition was.

“I was surprised by the fact that Romney didn’t win a couple more of the battleground states,” Darnold said.

Arts & Sciences senior Katie Hansen had been watching the election very closely for months and had even worked on a congressional campaign for Lee Terry, who defeated John Ewing for a seat in Congress. Hansen said she believes both Obama and Romney came close to victory.

“It was a well fought campaign on both sides,” Hansen said. “It came down to a few critical states and the Democratic ground game was just too strong for the Republican party. I had a lot of fun watching everything unfold over the last year, but now the real work starts.”

Political Science professor Philip Meeks and other professors said they believe the Creighton community was less enthusiastic about this election than it was about the 2008 one.

“People are a little disenchanted with Obama, so perhaps he’s not stirring up the passion he did four years ago,” Political Science professor Scott Hendrickson said. “Last election, it was decided sooner. There were so many tight races this year,” said Jolene Richwine, Political Science Administrative Assistant, who also helped organize the event.

One race being watched very closely by the Political Science professors was the election of Political Science professor Sue Crawford, who won a spot in a very close race for a position in Nebraska State Legislature.

“Besides the Presidential race, many of our guests were interested in particular state races,” Richwine said, mentioning the Missouri, Iowa and Massachusetts Senate races.

Students seemed to be particularly excited about the Missouri Senate race, between incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill and her opponent, Republican Todd Akin.

“Claire McCaskill and Akin, that’s one everyone’s been excited about that Claire McCaskill won,” Richwine said.

Akin was harshly criticized during his campaign for comments regarding “legitimate

rape” and pregnancy.

“Also interesting was the voting from several states on various state propositions and amendments, in particular legalization of same sex marriage in several states along with the legalization of pot in several states,” Richwine said.

The event in Billy Blues was organized by the Political Science department in coordination with both the College Democrats and the College Republicans.

“We’ve done this every election,” Political Science professor Philip Meeks said. “When we did it in Political Science department we would be fighting over the television.”

One of the main reasons this viewing party was hosted at Billy Blues was the number of televisions, which could show different stations, such as CNN and Fox News.

“It’s been a good venue area,” Richwine said. They’ve been very good to us.”

Hansen decided Billy Blues would be a good place to watch the election so she could be with her friends and people her own age.

“I work for Lee Terry, and I had a chance to watch it at the campaign office, but I’d rather watch it with friends in an environment that’s not so partisan,” Hansen said.

Richwine had been watching the campaign very closely for many months, and admits she has been overwhelmed with calls and campaign ads, and was relieved to have the election over with.

“I live in Iowa, we’ve been bombarded,” Richwine said. “I don’t think they ever quit after last election.”

Hansen expressed similar sentiment.

“I’m glad it’s over,” Hansen said. “We need to move on to something else. This is the most expensive election ever. The fiscal cliff is looming and we need to do something about it.”

Before Obama was announced as the winner, Richwine stated “I hope the nation can come together no matter who is elected. There’s just been too much negativity.”