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McCain concession casts pall over Alaska rally
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Published: November 5, 2008
WASILLA, Alaska _ It wasn't the party they hoped for when several hundred people gathered for an election night rally in GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's hometown.
A pall was cast over the crowd Tuesday night when Republican candidate John McCain, with the Alaska governor by his side, conceded the election to Barack Obama. The concession was broadcast on large screen TVs inside the city's sports center.
"I think America made a big mistake," said Phil Straka, a professional photographer from Wasilla.
He was at the rally selling buttons with the words "McCain-Palin" superimposed over Alaska scenes. "If there was another month before the election, I think they would have won."
Arin Denison cast her first-ever presidential vote for the McCain-Palin ticket.
"I thought they would win," the 18-year-old Wasilla resident said. "I'm very upset about it."
Residents throughout this Anchorage suburb were ready to cheer Palin from Wasilla to the White House.
Palin provided a much-needed boost to McCain's popularity in Alaska, where he finished fourth in the Republican caucuses.
At the Mug-Shot Saloon, where a big pot of moose stew made from Palin's own recipe was served, a military couple was split on Obama's election.
Jeremy Jonas, 22, of Wasilla was pleased with the Democrat's win. Jonas, who served in Iraq with the Army, said Obama pledge to withdraw most U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months resonated with him.
"His wanting to get out of Iraq is a big thing with me," he said.
But that same pledge upset his girlfriend, 23-year-old Danielle Teachnor, who has joined the Army Reserves for an eight-year stint.
"If Obama pulls the troops out, everyone who has been there will have died in vain," she said. "I supported McCain because he was a POW and he knows everything that is going on overseas."
Several dozen people from across the country, including Indiana, Florida and Colorado, gathered at the home of Brad and Kristan Cole, friends of Sarah and Todd Palin.
As the results trickled in, they ate, drank wine and snapped souvenir pictures with life-sized cutouts of McCain and Palin.
The results were not what they were hoping for, but several expressed hope for whatever future role Palin will play in politics.
So was Beryl Kring, an Anchorage resident attending the rally at the sports complex.
"It's just the beginning for Sarah. She'll be on the ticket in 2012," Kring said.
And for Straka, the professional photographer with the McCain-Palin buttons, he said he was willing to give them away after McCain's concession speech.
Straka is willing to make more for the next time she runs.
And one booth at the rally featured "Palin 2012" T-shirts for sale.
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