I spent Tuesday night in downtown Port Orchard shuffling between Amy’s on the Bay and MoonDogs Too.
At the former, 26th Legislative District candidate Jan Angel celebrated her 62nd birthday and a slim lead over her Democratic opponent, Kim Abel. Abel, meanwhile, was partying at MoonDogs with supporters and State Rep. Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, who would end the evening with a comfortable lead in the race to retain his seat.
I did not plan it this way, scout’s honor, but I happened to be in the Democratic camp when presidential candidate Barack Obama shattered the 270 electoral vote barrier to become this nation’s first African-American president elect. The time was 8:01 p.m.; Obama had 284 electoral votes. Within 15 minutes, by my estimation, the stations were broadcasting news that Republican contender John McCain had graciously conceded the fight.
When news of Obama’s victory broke, cheers and whoops erupted from the crowd in the upstairs room at MoonDogs.
Say what you will about Obama, the fact that Americans elected, by an overwhelming margin, an African American president is an historic event.
The fact wasn’t lost on people like me, 53, who are old enough to remember an all-too-recent time when race was either a stumbling block or a privilege.
Beyond that, Obama’s supporters seem to respond to his charisma (whether that’s enough to run a country in dire economic straits is yet to be seen).
I looked around at the crowd and saw 67-year-old Kay Travatte, watching the screen, hands to her face, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“This means a lot to you?” I asked.
“It’s been a long time,” she said referring to both Obama’s campaign and the last time she was so moved by a political leader.
Travatte, a Gig Harbor resident, was too young to vote for John F. Kennedy, but she worked on his campaign. She held a job with the F.B.I. the year he was assassinated and it took the wind out of her political sails … until now.
“From the first time I saw him talk, he made me want to come forward and do something for this country,” said Travatte of President-elect Obama.
Another woman, old enough to speak with authority, Marcia Loraditch, 62, of Port Orchard, summed it up this way, “We just stepped into history,” she said.