Hillary-mania as Clinton takes New York by storm

Clinton got a boost from another New York political pioneer—the city’s first female City Council speaker, Christine Quinn. The speaker, who represents Chelsea, cast her vote for Hillary on Tuesday at PS 33 on 26th St. and Ninth Ave.

By Charlotte Cowles

Before Hillary Clinton even took to the stage to address her jubilant New York supporters following the Tuesday primary win, one woman apparently couldn’t bear the build-up of the senator edging ever closer to a White House run. With excitement buzzing at a fever pitch, the elderly fan fainted just moments before Clinton smilingly greeted the dais and her ecstatic followers.

“I should have fainted,” said another female onlooker with mock jealousy, as crowd members fanned the overcome admirer with campaign signs “I’m probably just as excited as she is.”

Clinton supporters attending her official primary party found something akin to Beatlemania inside the Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center Studios on 34th St., and had good reason for their excitement.

A large screen above the stage broadcast CNN’s coverage of the Super Tuesday primary election results, with Clinton also winning by sizable margins in New Jersey and Massachusetts. Victories on Tuesday placed her just ahead of the other Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, both in the nation’s popular voting as well as in delegate wins.

Standing in the lobby outside the ballroom, Clinton campaign staffers heard news of the victories before they were aired on TV. One staffer checked her buzzing BlackBerry and announced, “We won New Jersey!” Another punched the air with his phone, adding, “And Massachusetts!” The handful of young but tired teammates, many of whom were running on precious little sleep and months of constant road trips, produced an astonishingly loud cheer. One young woman got several hugs and congratulations. “She’s our Jersey girl,” explained another staffer. Thrilled, the group headed into the ballroom.

Backers of Barack Obama who gathered at Tonic on 29th St. and Third Ave. on Tuesday cheer as he is announced the winner of the Alabama primary.

The crowd—ranging from well-heeled men and women in business suits, to young children, handicapped people, elderly folks in cardigans, union members in T-shirts, and fresh-faced twenty-somethings—all reacted similarly when the results flashed for Clinton victories. They yelled, whooped, jumped up and down and fluttered their “Hillary for President” signs in celebration. Supporters crowding a bank of bleachers on one side of the room routinely broke into chants: “Ma-dame Presi-dent!” “Hi-lla-ry! Hi-lla-ry!” “Yes she can! Yes she can!”

As the New York polling numbers showed on the screen, the DJ played Clinton’s campaign theme song, an upbeat rock ballad by Big Head Todd and the Monsters, with the chorus: “Yes you can / change the world / true love discovers / And she stands, and she won’t back down / Oh, yes, you can change the world / There is no other one.”

As the music swelled and the bright lights blazed, many mopped their foreheads with cocktail napkins and held their ground, waiting breathlessly for the woman of the hour to take the podium. Conversation revolved around the results as crowd members voiced their loyalty with dashes of Manhattan snark. When CNN announced that Obama had won North Dakota, a man in a tie shrugged and said with a laugh, “Whatever—North Dakota,” as the DJ played Billy Joel’s “It’s Still Rock N’ Roll To Me.” As Republican candidate Mike Huckabee’s election night speech in Little Rock, Ark. aired, a middle-aged woman said lightheartedly, “Oh, Huck off!” and waved her Hillary sign.

As Clinton made her way to the podium, with husband Bill and daughter Chelsea in tow, the announcement came over the loud speaker: “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the next President of the United States!” The crowd roared accordingly.

After her speech, red, white and blue confetti blew out over the audience, and Clinton descended from the stage to shake hands and mingle with the crowd. “She’s much softer in person,” observed one crowd member, a middle-aged woman. “Oh my God, she’s so close!” squealed another. “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” by The Police boomed over the loudspeakers, and a crush of people swarmed to the stage.

Mary McCorry, an elderly woman from the Upper West Side wearing glasses and a large Hillary T-shirt, danced in a clearing on the floor and waved her Clinton sign in the air. “I’m so excited for Hillary!” she said, taking a break from her skipping. “I’m having a ball! I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun.”

Over in Murray Hill, a group of Obama supporters began filling up the Tonic bar on 29th St. and 3rd Ave. for their candidate’s official election night party.

Just after 8 p.m., Obama backers packed the bar while more poured through the door to watch the results on large, overhead television screens.

The mostly young and composed crowd waited until the top of each hour as polls closed in another part of the nation. Karine Birazian stood holding a sign reading, “Armenians for Obama.”

“In 2005, Obama spoke out on recognizing the Armenian genocide,” Birazian explained. “Of all the candidates, he was the strongest in his support of Armenia,” she added.

Nearby, family law attorney Allen Drexel of Grammercy Park stood eating a hamburger.

“I believe in Barack’s message of change, unity and renewal,” Drexel said between bites. “I don’t believe Hillary is electable because the negative reaction to her, even among many Southern progressives, is so visceral and so strong. The constant vicissitudes in her policy positions. Most importantly, she was for the war before she was against it.

“We need a candidate who will say, “I’m against the war,” he added.

Earlier that day, despite the rainy weather, voters had been similarly upbeat when heading to the polls. Tony Arena hadn’t decided on a candidate until moments before pulling the lever at a West 17th Street polling station in Chelsea. “I was an undecided voter right up until I walked through the door,” he said. “Both are good.”

“I’m an issues voter, and both the candidates have similar stances on a lot of issues, so I had to weigh in other concerns,” said the 42-year-old Chelsea resident. “I voted for Obama.”

Rob Grunewald, 58, who accompanied Arena to the polls, made his decision that morning. “I voted for Hillary Clinton,” he declared.

“I’m just afraid of all the crazies who hate her,” added Arena worriedly.

“Oh, that doesn’t bother me,” responded Grunewald with a shrug.

As for the polls, both men said that the location was busy, but not crowded. “There was a steady stream,” said Arena.

Tushar Tanna, 31, expressed confidence over his vote. “I voted for Barack Obama,” he said. “I’ve known for a while who I was voting for.”

As for the voting process, Tanna added, “It was pretty standard. I think New York is one of the few states that still does it old school, like with the levers.”

Jane Fire, a middle-aged woman who did not specify her candidate choice, fished a Hillary Clinton flier out of her purse and said that she wouldn’t have known how to vote without it. “I got this last week,” she said. “I was walking down the street and someone handed it to me. See, it shows you that you have to pull the individual levers for all the delegates and not just the one lever for the candidate.”

The flier, in addition to bullet-pointing Clinton’s standpoints and accomplishments, gave instructions for operating at the polls. “If I hadn’t gotten this flier, I wouldn’t have done it right,” she said.

Both Obama and Clinton campaigners staked out corners near the Chelsea polling stations on 17th and 18th Sts. “I’ve been standing on this street corner for the last six hours,” 27-year-old Clinton campaigner Simon Woods said cheerfully. “I think I’m starting to be less effective.” He grinned, took a sip of his coffee, and asked a passing pedestrian, “Have you voted today?” The person nodded, smiled, and continued on.

Woods noted that passersby had been very receptive. “Everybody’s engaged, nobody’s totally disinterested,” he said. Just then a man on his cell phone pushed by Woods’ outstretched arm, brushing off the flier. “Well, except for him,” he laughed good-naturedly.

“I’ve noticed that the demographics of people who seem to be interested in Clinton versus Obama seem to be quite structured. Especially here in New York, it’s the young, affluent men particularly who are voting for Obama,” Woods said. “It seems if you need hope, you vote for Obama, but if you need help, you vote for Hillary.” In terms of racial lines, however, he hadn’t seen any divides when it came to people’s interest, “which is nice,” he noted.

Woods added he had just come from campaigning in Los Angeles, which was very different from New York. “Here, the focus is much more on the economy. In Los Angeles, politics are much more abstract,” he said. “Voters are more concentrated on issues here. It’s less image, more substance.”

Across the street, on the northwest corner of 17th St. and Eighth Ave., Obama campaigners were also hard at work. Woods gestured to them and said that he felt the Hillary campaign was far less focused on negativity toward Obama, rather than vice versa. “We had some guy with Obama fliers yelling at us from over there earlier today,” he said. “But then, this afternoon, I had a nice chat with an Obama girl, and we agreed that there are two great candidates. It’s the really great thing about this election.”

— with additional reporting by Jefferson Siegel