Dubuque, Iowa--There were tears all over Dubuque tonight.
At the Richardson field office, young staff stood around outside in the cold, stamping their feet and swallowing hard. Although Richardson came in fourth and will go on to New Hampshire, his team had of course hoped he'd do better than 4%.
Next door, most Biden folks were already gone.
Although everyone who promised to caucus for Biden did, explained one of his organizers, the high turn-out tonight hurt Biden. In some precincts, there were several hundred percent more people than expected, which meant Biden needed a higher percentage to be viable than organizers anticipated.
"We didn't have the money," the organizer said, shut his laptop, and pulled the plug.
For their candidate coming in (a scant) second, the John Edwards office was subdued. Eighteen staff and volunteers silently watched Edwards' speech on a computer monitor -no TV was evident in the office at all--then started bundling up to leave.
"Obama had a free ride on the press," one volunteer said.
Another did a straw poll as to whether anyone would support Clinton should she be the nominee. There were no obvious takers. "I'm going for Bloomberg," the volunteer announced.
In contrast, there was no doubt Obama had won. The sign tacked up on the office door said so, along with a blanket invitation to a party down the street. There, with seventy-odd people packed into the basement of a bar, it was hard to tell who was laughing, who was crying, and who was planning for their candidate's inauguration.
"I'm elated," Ruth Scharnau, a precinct captain for Obama, said over the noise. "This is the best organized campaign I've ever worked on."
Dianne Roche, another precinct captain, said she was overwhelmed. "I remember my dad watching JFK and just busting his buttons he was so proud," she said. Her eyes filled with tears. "That's the way I feel tonight."
Across town, Clinton's campaign had gone to Happy's. "When I see the pie, I don't see third place. I see a third, a third, a third," said precinct captain Cindy Wiese. She reiterated Clinton's message of experience, proven leadership, and hard work.
The words were positive, but her voice wobbled.