As 6:30 p.m. approached, more supporters of the Kevin Nicholson and Brook Anderson ticket trickled in. But as the time for the election results neared, the pair that everyone had gathered to support had not yet arrived.
About 10 people gathered at the Dinkytown apartment of Nick Campanario, the campaign manager, channel surfing in anticipation of the fateful call.
“I think we got a great shot; I’m a lot more excited than I was at the beginning of last week,” said Adam Tillotson, a General College freshman who helped with the campaign.
Anderson, a College of Liberal Arts sophomore, arrived just as the clock turned 6:31. One minute later, the phone rang and everyone leaned forward in their seats in anticipation.
The call was a false alarm, but it prompted discussion.
“Well, no matter what, we did our best,” said Anderson, an Alpha Phi sorority member. “I thought I’d be nervous but I’m not.”
The party became tense as the minutes ticked by. Finally, Nicholson, a CLA sophomore and University DFLer, arrived at 6:37 p.m.
Soon after his arrival, the duo received their long-awaited call.
They ran to the hallway to take the call in private. Someone turned off the television to hear the conversation. Everyone was silent.
“Oh my God, Nikki Kubista won,” Anderson yelled out in surprise. Anderson and Nicholson received 335 votes, not far behind the winners, who got 450.
In shock, the pair came out from the hallway to tell the disappointed others the details of the call.
“Erin and Nikki are good people too. There were people who were running that if they would have won, I would have cried,” Anderson said.
In disappointment, Nicholson sat on the back of one of the three couches in the room, glaring into space.
“You couldn’t quote what I’m feeling,” Nicholson said.
Anderson said the two talked Kubista and Erin Ferguson, into running and were glad for them.
The candidates were heartened by the fact that they and the winners were the only candidates with no endorsements.
“Wow, think of how great that is though, Kevin; (335) people believed in us,” Anderson said. “We did get our cause across; we wanted to get people to vote,” Anderson said.