We went to McCormick Place, because we could. We went to Grant Park to see if anyone else would (no one did). We went to the Chicago Republicans soiree at the Wit, which was about as well attended as Grant Park. And we made pit stops at Wiener’s Circle and a homeless shelter. Throughout it all, we held our breath. This wouldn’t be like last time. We’re all a little more tired, a lot more unsure. We readied ourselves for coming face to face with a city that felt far less like the one Obama graced four years ago. Whatever the outcome, this would not be a massive step forward. In a best-case scenario, the most we could hope for, it seemed, was relief. Yet as we and the rest of Chicago settled in for Obama’s acceptance speech, we woke up to the enormity of what just happened, less exhilarating the second time around, perhaps, but no less inspiring.
“IT’S 51 FOR OBAMA TO 49 FOR ROMNEY WITH 60% REPORTING,” my friend in Ohio texted me. “We’re getting a little giddy here.”
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What does he see for the future? “Hopefully something better than the status quo. Hopefully a second term where people are no longer so worried about partisan politics.”
I TREKKED DOWN TO THE WIENER’S CIRCLE expecting to run into drunks celebrating over a char dog or drowning their sorrows in cheese fries, but I arrived to find the place nearly deserted. Fortunately two of the three people milling about turned out to be quite interesting. Emily Nelson spoke to me at length about her thoughts on judges’ terms and their roles as public servants, while Zach Taylor told me about his “stop robbing me” write-in campaign. The pair were at the Libertarian Party of Chicago’s monthly meetup at Lincoln Restaurant in North Center when they decided to head to Wiener’s Circle; Taylor moved to Chicago from Cincinnati several years ago, but hadn’t been to the infamous Lincoln Park institution. “Fucking you have to have a char dog from the Wiener Circle,” Nelson says. —Leor Galil
He said Mitt Romney didn’t do a good enough job of reaching women and minorities, and that the demographics of the electorate are shifting—the Republican Party will need to do better. “I think that the Republican Party is gonna have to revise its strategies to reflect the new realities,” Kantner says.
Me, I kept an eye on the door from which I thought the President would be emerging. There’s a metal barricade in front of the passage, and a curtain fluttered a bit when the breeze came in. Nearby stood 12 water coolers that were visited by wave after wave of very thirsty looking supporters of the President.
