Many Las Vegans stay up late

Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2000 | 11:01 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

Most Americans woke up this morning to find that regardless of what they might have heard on the news before they went to bed, the presidential race wasn't over at all.

In Las Vegas, many waited through the night for the final outcome.

As dejected Democrats left the Riviera Hotel's convention hall at midnight and gathered in a 19th-floor suite, the silence over Vice President Al Gore's loss erupted spectacularly into cheers about 1:15 a.m. when their man refused to concede the election to Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

And Florida's see-saw vote tally between Gore and Bush through the early morning hours kept the suspense at its peak.

"This is surreal," said a jubilant Mary Perren, Gore's Nevada press secretary. "I can't believe this is happening."

About a dozen Las Vegas Democrats regrouped about 2 a.m. today in a bar at the Riviera, eyeing television anchors reporting that without Florida, Gore's Electoral College lead was 249 to 246.

Perren felt so lucky she dropped $1 in a video poker machine and won $20.

Then David Montoya, husband of Gore's Nevada campaign manager, Liz Montoya, won two slot jackpots.

"It's a good sign for the recount in Florida," Liz Montoya said of the changing luck played out in both casino and vote count.

Nationally, voters had mixed feelings.

"It's incredible," Mary Houle, a Gore supporter, said as she stopped by a Springfield, Mass., bagel shop for a badly needed cup of coffee. "I stayed up until 2 a.m. I didn't go to bed until the television networks said Bush won."

"I was so down I didn't even turn the radio on until I was driving in to work, because I didn't want to hear Bush. And then I find out that's it's not over after all," she said. "Am I dreaming?"

Besides surprise, bleary-eyed citizens felt shock, annoyance -- even fear. Some said the Electoral College system ought to be dropped. Others, though, said they weren't too concerned about having to wait for a winner and saw the whole exercise as democracy in action.

Veronica Rucker of Pennsauken, N.J., said the back-and-forth race was "real madness" to watch. "At 10 p.m. it was Gore. Then I fell asleep and woke up around midnight and it was Bush," she said. "Then this morning it's no one. The whole thing was pretty screwy."

At the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino, where the Nevada Republicans gathered, it was a similar story.

Ninety minutes after celebrating what he thought was a Republican presidential victory, Sam Blyveis found himself in a state of disbelief.

"It's like winning the World Series and then coming home and finding out your house has been burglarized," Blyveis said as he watched news coverage.

Shortly before 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Mandalay Bay convention area was rocking to the sound of the Eurythmics anthem "Sweet Dreams" as hundreds of Republicans celebrated what appeared to be a triumph by Bush, but the news out of Florida brought the party to an end.

"We're all kind of shocked," Ryan Erwin, executive director of the Nevada Republican Party, said. "We absolutely ran the emotional gambit. First we had Florida, Michigan, Illinois and Pennsylvania going to Gore all within about 30 minutes, and it wasn't looking good. Then Florida was back in play, and we secured Nevada for Gov. Bush, and it looked like we were going in the right direction. Now we just don't know."

Blyveis, who worked for the Ensign campaign, wondered if he would be able to go to sleep without knowing the final outcome of the election.

"My dad had stepped out of the room where all the televisions were set up before the media announced Bush the winner," Blyveis said. "I was able to tell him that what we've worked for and stood for came together, and it was the proudest moment of my life. Now I feel kind of violated. It's deflating."

In the key state of Florida, Wanda Berkeley, a 39-year-old systems analyst in Miami who voted for George W. Bush, went to bed when he was declared the winner. "I thought, 'They pulled a switcheroo," she said after waking up to the news that wasn't necessarily the case.

Jeff Hyman expressed his disapproval as he ate breakfast at in the cafeteria at the Federal Reserve Building in Miami. "I don't think it's a positive thing," Hyman said. "It's just prolonging the process."

At a nearby table, Rob Sinninger, 34, seemed pleased that the recount was to take place and saw it as a reflection of the democratic process at its finest.

"It feels like the people are in power," he said. "And they're double-checking, to make sure they get it right. With the state of Florida, your vote truly counts. This proves it to the nation."

Working the front desk of the Kelly Inn in Bismarck, N.D., T.J. Doll said the stalemate was "really not giving me a lot of faith in the system now." With Wednesday's newspaper in front of him, he added: "I mean, they should have had one picked by now. But all things considered, I guess I'd rather have them do it right and take their time and do it right."

Marshall Lewis, a 57-year-old process analyst in Kansas City, Mo., said: "It's awfully aggravating because I was up late last night watching the returns and it's unsettling to wake up this morning because you hope your man won in a landslide, and it turns out people in Florida are going to decide it."