Thank-you Speeches and Food Abound at Victory Parties

In the wake of last night's elections for Cambridge City Council and School Committee, both winning and losing candidates partied in style, content with their efforts regardless of the outcome.

First-time City Council candidate and--if early returns hold--newly elected Councillor Marjorie C. Decker held a raucous victory party at the Middle East restaurant in Central Square, where she happily thanked her supporters for their help.

Hours before she was assured a spot on the council, over 100 eager supporters and fans filled the restaurant in anticipation of Decker's forthcoming victory. The visibly relieved Decker described the campaign as an amazing--albeit exhausting--experience.

"I'm just really thrilled that I've had so many friends and supporters throughout the past months," Decker said. "It has been such a great experience to run in the city that you grew up in."

Decker said that she had over 3,000 supporters and hoped that the election would produce more than a new City Council.

"In an election, you need to build on community and get people together on certain issues," she said. "After the election you don't want to lose that."

Amid approximately 50 of his 130 supporters and volunteers enjoying good food and company, city council candidate and current Councillor Kenneth E. Reeves '72 said he, too, was pleased with his campaign's effort.

Reeves had a tentative position on the council as of last night. Earlier in the evening, he said although voter turnout seemed low, he was optimistic about his chances for victory.

"I think that it is impossible to know at this point," Reeves said as the votes were still being counted at the Cambridge Senior Center. "We've had a very different type of election this year."

Running for a sixth term, Reeves said he was not taking anything for granted. He cited the shift in Cambridge population and the increasing student base as significant factors in the election.

"We've worked as hard as we could at this point, and we just want to have fun together," he said.

MIT senior and council candidate Erik Snowberg, who hosted a small gathering of mostly MIT friends in his living room, said he was glad he had the experience of running a campaign but was also glad that it is over.

Though he monitored the election all day, Snowberg said he realized that he hadn't gotten a spot, and it was too late to make a difference.

"We just figured that the campaign is over," he said. "We're done. I went into this thinking that it would be an experiment, and we'll see what happens."

Still, Snowberg said he was pleased with the student turnout.

"By the end of the day," he said, "we couldn't find a registered voter on the MIT campus who had not gone out and voted."

At a small party at her Cambridge home yesterday, school committee candidate Nancy Walser watched as the numbers started to roll in.

"It's looking good at this point," she said confidently. "It's hard to know the first time how it will turn out."

Walser said she was pleased with the strong campaign that she has been running since April, and said she wouldn't have anything done differently.

"I think we did all that we could and that we have a high level of support," Walser said.