How I survived my first election night

By Christine Tutty
J-School Web reporter

Christine Tutty

It may not sound like a good time — long hours, dozens of political candidates, pushy reporters, and no pay in a town full of businessmen and politicians — but it was a great time.

I was one of five R-TV students who were asked to work Election Night 2004 for Montana PBS in Helena on Nov. 2.

The five of us crammed into the Buick and headed for the capital city. The car was filled with different party views – from the really far right wing to the pretty far left wing – with not a whole lot in between. The conversations, no matter how much we tried, always seemed to go back to politics. I knew it would be an interesting ride home on Wednesday, no matter who won the races.

We arrived in Helena at about 5:30 p.m., grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to our assignments. Aaron Flint and I were stationed at the Colonial Inn, which was Republican Party headquarters; Dustin Blanchet was stationed at Jorgensen’s,  Democratic Party headquarters; Beth Saboe was covering the Republican speeches for KUFM, Montana Public Radio; and Casey Chaloupek was running recorded interviews back and forth.

The guest list for each party included candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and auditor, along with prominent party figures.

All of the satellite and microwave trucks – which send the live feed to different television stations — were parked at the Democratic headquarters. This meant the reporters at the Republican headquarters had to record interviews and send the tape over to Jorgensen’s so they could be sent out. Reporters at the Democratic headquarters were able to go live immediately with their interviews.

Interview topics were selected beforehand, but the crews had to select the interviewees onsite. Still, we didn’t go on the air until almost 10 p.m.           

For a couple of hours, the five of us wandered around meeting people and getting the general layout. Flint, a former staffer for U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., was in his glory. He was in charge of getting the interviewees for the reporter.

When people began arriving, our jobs really started. We all went to our respective parties and started recording interviews.

At the Colonial, the mood among Republicans seemed almost somber. People were laughing and eating and drinking, but there was no music. There was no dancing. There was really no celebration. It didn’t even seem that people were anticipating a victory.

The most intense part of the night was when the Associated Press called the gubernatorial race in favor of Democratic candidate Brian Schweitzer. The room hushed as people whispered the news around the room. All the television crews — including us — were scrambling to get their cameras, microphones and lights in position to air the concession speech.

When Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Brown stepped on stage, the only noise in the room was from the televisions and the Fox News Channel with national election results. People were running over to the televisions to mute them.

After Brown’s concession speech, people filtered out of the room. It was as if everyone left to go home and go to bed. All the television crews loaded up their gear and left, too.

After we were all packed, we drove back to Jorgensen’s to pick up the rest of our crew so we could go celebrate our job well done. When we went to get them, the difference in attitude was obvious. Music was playing, people were dancing around the room, and there were still a lot of people hanging around.

Other R-TV students worked on election coverage as well. Megan McFarland and Tim Reilly were in Bozeman to help with the producing, while several other teams made television packages during the day to air that night on PBS.

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