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Students found plenty to cover as they witnessed exuberance and disappointment all around town
by Will Freihofer

It was a long election night for many J-School students, with reporters scrambling to cover the tenor of their town and country from early Tuesday morning through Wednesday’s waking hours.

Photojournalism students began shooting at 7 a.m. on Election Day, trying to capture the feel of the many polling stations spread throughout the city as they opened for business. Many were surprised to find the stations un-crowded despite the election’s exceptionally high voter turnout.

“I’m not complaining,” said graduate student Adrienne Barnett, who said she’d been shooting for most of the day. Barnett said she had a volunteer at the Republican headquarters on Brooks Street to thank for making it through the morning. “She gave me a Milky Way and and an olive, that was my breakfast,” she said.

Twelve hours after the polls opened, a dozen or so journalism students roamed a banquet hall at the Doubletree Hotel on Front Street. The location of the Missoula County Republicans’ election night event, the room was set with tables and chairs for 80 people and had election coverage projected on its north and south facing walls. At 7 p.m. few supporters were on hand, and reporters waited patiently at a table by the buffet for candidates whose races they were covering to arrive.

Senior Amy Faxon was working for the Montana Kaimin, covering the race in house districts 92 and 93. Two current University of Montana students were running for district seats. Faxon helped herself to plate of pineapple between unanswered calls to one of the candidates. “He said he was coming,” she said. As the room gradually began to fill – and Republican prospects grew progressively grimmer in the presidential race – students deployed to different areas of the hall to cover their respective interests.

Kelsey Bernius, another senior in print journalism reporting for the school paper, typed on her laptop from the table, working on a scene piece to capture the atmosphere of the room. Her reporting would be combined with that of fellow Kaimin employee Josh Potter, who spent the night attending Democratic functions, for a front page story in Wednesday’s paper eventually headlined “RACE IS HISTORY.” Alternating between typing, interviewing and eating, Bernius said she was hoping to file her story early in the night via email. “I’d like to be out of here at nine,” she said, “I want to see what’s going on everywhere else.”

A short stroll towards downtown from the Doubletree provided a much different take on the night’s historic events. The traditionally liberal Union Club on Main Street was packed past capacity at 8:30, with managers allowing four guests in for every eight to leave in hopes of thinning out the ecstatic crowd. Cheers boomed through the bar at every mention of Senator Barack Obama’s lead in the presidential race, and patrons craned necks over their drinks in hopes of hearing the televisions’ audio through the din.

In the midst of the commotion, graduate student Kip Sikora struggled to line up a photo of a particularly rosy-cheeked Obama supporter in pigtails as she high-kicked in celebration of Virginia being projected for the Democrats in the race. Sikora said he’d been shooting at the Union Club for around three hours, and wasn’t ready to move on just yet. “I don’t want to leave here, this is a scene,” he said.

At CNN’s projection of a Sen. Obama’s victory sometime around 9 p.m., cars blasted horns in front of the historic Wilma Theatre on Higgins Avenue. The popular concert and movie hall projected election coverage on its main screen before a nearly packed house. Print and photojournalism majors circulated throughout the floor and lofted decks of the hall for shots and quotes, darting eyes on the lookout for celebrators of particular note. One such special guest was Obama supporter and Missoula mayor John Engen, who took the stage to thank the citizens for their efforts in the election season. A collection of empty champagne bottles at his feet, the mayor said he only had two words to say to the city. “Thank you,” he emphasized, as crouching photography students snapped diligently from the floor and balcony.

With the election settled, notepads were returned to rear pockets and cameras allowed to rest on chests as students took a long-awaited break. Though some followed the crowd in the continued excitement elsewhere downtown, many returned to Don Anderson Hall to edit, type and file. One photojournalism student, who preferred to remain anonymous, said he’d likely be up all night editing his pictures. “I’m going to need a big drink,” he said.

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