Republican Club Lights Cigars While Democrats Stay Sober

While members of the Harvard Republican Club chain-smoked panatelas at a victory dance in Quincy House last night, Democratic Club stalwarts looked glumly past unopened bottles of wine at a black-and-white television on the third floor of the Kennedy School of Government.

Ronald Reagan's student supporters, many garbed in t-shirts emblazoned with a crossed-out portrait of Karl Marx, kicked their celebration off with a high-decibel recording of "Midnight Train From Georgia."

Nathan J. Hagen '81, an Anderson supporter who "crashed" the Republican Club party, wore a swastika on his right arm, which he said "just seemed fitting for the election results."

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Reagan supporters, however, took the election more seriously. "It means a great deal to me, because I'm in ROTC," Hilary A. Kinal '82, president of the Harvard Conservative Club, said, adding, "If Carter had won, I'd probably go on active duty because there would probably be a war, and if there's a war, I want to be in it."

"Since Reagan won, I'll probably go down to Washington to see if I can get a job in the administration," Kinal said.

Puffing on his third cigar, James S. Harrington '81, co-chairman of Harvard-Radcliffe Students for Reagan, predicted the election would mean "a long Republican ascendancy. We expected a victory, but the landslide was a surprise--it means we've finally broken down the New Deal coalition."

At the Kennedy School, Jimmy Carter's student supporters praised the president's concession speech and consoled themselves with hopes for "Mondale in '84."

Nina J. Gardner '82, president of the Democratic Club, wore a t-shirt with Ronald Reagan's portrait behind bars and had tears in her eyes. "Why is it that our leaders always give their best speeches after they've lost?" she asked mournfully.