By Ceili Doyle, Senior Staff Writer
The evening started off cautiously optimistic as Miami University College Democrats and Hillary Clinton campaign supporters and staffers gathered in the Clinton headquarters on High Street.
Many students who crowded around the two flat screens sported their College Democrat shirts adorned with the quote, "We don't fear the future, we shape it," from President Barack Obama's 2016 DNC speech.
Handwritten post-it notes formed in the shape of the Clinton logo occupied a large space of the wall. Written on the individual post-its are all reasons why supporters are "with her," from "30 years of public service," to, "So strong. So intelligent. So compassionate, and so unbelievably qualified!!!!!" to, "She has validated me as a survivor of sexual violence."
In between 8 and 9 p.m. the tide began to shift in the cramped office space. Clamorous shouts of frustration and anger rifled the air as Clinton lost the swing state of Ohio to Donald Trump.
"I could actually hear the sentence, 'Obama you're fired' in January," one student said aghast as he downed the rest of his Guinness bottle.
Empty pizza boxes, crushed beer cans and a semi-full bottle of Jack Daniels littered the tables and floor of the office as tensions continued to rise throughout the night.
One organizing fellow with the Clinton campaign was hunched over his laptop, refreshing the results of the New York Times election predictor while tears rolled down his cheeks.
"If he wins can we just break out into 'Hey Jude'?" one girl asked her friends, half jokingly and half seriously.
R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World" played in the background, softly tuning out the various political pundits who attempted to predict which of the remainder of the swing states would go to Trump or Clinton.
"Gary Johnson is from everywhere and nowhere. He is a figment of our imaginations," one supporter said. His smile drained from his face as he realized that Clinton was down by 130,000 votes in Florida and Johnson had 170,000 votes in that contentious state.
The #OHHillYes sign and earlier camaraderie seemed to lose its luster as anxious supporters and Democrats began to whisper murmurs of Brexit 2.0 and how much a Trump presidency could affect the global markets.
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"Steve, let's talk about how the Dow's gonna drop by 20 percent tomorrow."
Ashen faces were mirrored across the room as another girl asked out loud, "Can you even imagine what his State of the Union would be?"
Little by little people began to leave the office. A boy walked past the t.v. and questioned if Lester Holt was crying on MSNBC.
"What could I have done better? Why does our country value themselves more than the general population?"
The office emptied around quarter to 2 a.m. Only a few forgotten phone chargers and jackets remained. Bottles were strewn haphazardly across the room and for all intents and purposes the office of the Oxford Hillary Clinton campaign headquarters had deflated.
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