UW-Madison greeted President Bush's victory Wednesday with emotions ranging from outrage to malaise to gratitude.
After news of former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's concession hit the sleep-deprived campus at around 12:30 p.m., the streets began to buzz with political invective.
\I'm a conservative. I'm happy that Bush won,"" said UW-Madison freshman Steve Guzzetta. ""Dealing with the situation in Iraq, he's already dug himself in so that changing administration would affect that situation negatively in terms of stabilizing Iraq.""
UW-Madison senior and College Republicans Chair Nicole Marklein agreed.
""I project our country moving on the course that it's been going: creating more jobs every single month, continuing to be safe from further terrorist attacks on our soil and getting resolve in Iraq,"" she said.
However, some students looked at the election's outcome in an entirely different light.
""I think it's awful,"" said second-year UW-Madison graduate student Andrea Finch. ""I think it's a shame, and we're looking terrible in the eyes of the world, and I think this isn't a true reflection of how people actually think.""
However, among Democrats, Bush was not the only target of criticism.
""I'm disappointed that the Democratic Party could not come up with a more convincing campaign and a better candidate to face George W. Bush,"" UW-Madison freshman Ryan Lynch said.
The candidates locked horns in an especially close election Tuesday that continued into Wednesday's early morning hours. Ultimately, the race came down to Ohio, a hotly contested 20-electoral vote state that would push either candidate over the 270-electoral vote mark. The intensity of the actual election was only matched by the relevance of the issues at stake.
""What I'm most worried about is the fact that Bush is going to be able to select about three Supreme Court justices,"" Finch said. ""It's going to be awful, especially for Roe v. Wade or women's rights.""
""I would say I'm disappointed. I thought we could win it, but I guess the next step for Democrats is to make sure we use the people we do have in Congress especially to continue to pass legislation and question parts of the Republican agenda that we disagree with,"" said UW-Madison junior and College Democrats chair Liz Sanger.
UW-Madison freshman Preety Thacker agreed.
""We'll just have to wait and see. I think that we're all the more ignorant if we just wash away and say 'this sucks' and sit down and cry about it,"" she said. ""We've got to just get up and keep doing what we're doing and hopefully see the other side's point and try to contribute to it.\
