A mix of anxiety and curiosity filled SF State’s Jack Adams’ Hall Tuesday evening, as students and professors awaited for the results of the presidential election.

About 200 students gathered to watch the returns on CNN while a panel of SF State political science professors answered questions and gave their input on the close race that will determine the future of America.

As CNN analysts indicated that
Ohio became the central focus of the decision at around 9 p.m., professor Corey Cook checked other news sources on the Internet to announce more updated projections.

“We’re finding it is really difficult for Kerry to win Ohio,” said Cook, after he made a quick math analysis that estimated Kerry was in need of 60,000 votes to win the buckeye state.

Those who started with big democratic hopes soon began to lose their enthusiasm.

“I’m nervous,” said Jessica Nowicki, an SF State Freshman. “I want Kerry to win because of woman rights and war issues, but I actually think Bush is going to win,” she said.

“My gut feeling is that Bush is going to win,” said Michael Trujillo, who is a graduate representative in the Associated Student’s board of directors. “I’ll fell very disappointed if that happens. I don’t think he’s done a job worth a reelection,” Trujillo said as CNN continued to call states such as Arizona, Arkansas and Colorado in favor of Bush.

Only a few students cheered with the results.

Freshman Kristel Thyring was one of the few.

“I voted for him and I expect him to win, although it’s still very close right now,” said Thyring, who moved from San Luis Obispo to San Francisco four months ago and has been surprised by the liberal views of San Francisco.

Big cheers filled the room when the 55 electoral votes from California brought Kerry’s numbers to 188 votes at around 8 p.m., making it close to the 197 votes Bush had at the time.

But after television stations called the state of Florida with 52 percent of votes for Bush, and announced that he had 51 percent of the votes in Ohio, student’s faces looked grim.

“The best case scenario for Kerry if he loses in Ohio is a tie, but even if that happens the House of Representatives will get to decide and he will still lose, since most of the representatives are republicans,” said Joel Kassiola, dean of the behavioral and social science college.

While some looked disappointed, others looked for the good side of the projected results.

“With Bush in power in the next four years the country will deteriorate even more, but there might be some long-term benefits,” said Adam Sgrenci, a graduate International Relations student.

“If Kerry wins, people are going to say ‘OK the country is fine,’ and they won’t realize that there’s still so much oppression,” explained Sgrenci’s friend, Alison Lejevne, who is also a graduate student at SF State.

“With Bush, people who are on the defense and are not activists are more likely to protest and be on the uprising to change things,” Lejevne said. “I’m disappointed, but not surprised,” she added.

But hopes and projections apart, the official results probably will not be announced until the end of the day tomorrow, said Kassiola. “Unless, of course, there are other legal challenges, like there was last time.”