The political enthusiasm attributed to young supporters of President-elect Barack Obama was readily apparent at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, on Nov. 5, the day after his victory, as the College Democrats club gathered for their first post-election meeting of the year.

"I'm still in shock," said a smiling Liz Scott, a sophomore graphics design and political science student from Catonsville. "It still feels unreal, especially because (the campaign) has been going on for what, 21 months?"

Scott and her peers seemed on top of the world as they recounted watching votes tallied the night before and finally hearing the news at about 11 p.m. that their candidate -- the one they'd put so much hope in, the one they'd campaigned for -- was now the president-elect.

"After all the campaigning and being involved, it just felt like the culmination of everything," Scott said.

During the final months and weeks of the campaign, Scott spent hours phone-banking and going door to door in Catonsville, urging people to vote for Obama, she said.

She donated money -- which she said she doesn't have much of -- to the Obama campaign on more than one occasion, and waited in line to vote at Hillcrest Elementary School. "It was all so worth it," she said.

Lina Hargadon, a sophomore political science student from Baltimore, said, "I'm on a high. I haven't come down since we won Pennsylvania.

"I have an exam tomorrow and I don't know what I'm going to do. I can't concentrate."

Hargadon, whose uncle, Republican candidate Michael Hargadon lost to U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings in a race for the District 7 House of Representatives seat, said she spent election night at home in Charles Village watching the results come in with her parents.

When Obama won, she said she felt "overwhelming joy" and ran out into the street to celebrate.

Matt Skolnik, a senior psychology student from Catonsville, said he was lying in bed when he heard Obama had won, and his initial reaction was, "It's about time."

"It was good politics from America, finally," he said.

Sophomore French and political science student Amanda Johnson and sophomore music education and performance student Marcus Simmons both learned of Obama's win while at The Commons, a campus building with two large viewing screens.

"She cried. I jumped up and down a lot, screamed a bunch and ran around hugging people," Simmons said.

Afterward, victory parties could be heard all over campus and in the surrounding areas, he said.

"The apartments were ridiculous," he said. "People were running around, honking horns -- it was ridiculous."

What effect did young voters have on the election?

Sophomore Brittany Gwynn had a simple answer: "We turned out."

And as for the future?

"Like Obama said, we have so far to go, and it's going to be hard," Hargadon said.

The students said they are ready for the challenges ahead, and their political involvement won't end with Obama's victory.

"If there's enough apathy," Scott said, "then nothing will ever happen."

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user comments (1)

user stevetowson says...

It's great they chose to invlove themselves in the system, but they could have all went to the ocean for two weeks and Obama would have still won Maryland. I believe the last time Maryland went red was in 1980 for Ronald Reagan.

Posted 12:49 PM, 11.13.08

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