Supporters bristle as gracious loser hails significance of verdict

PHOENIX, ARIZONA: The defeated Republican ticket carried itself with dignity but the audience showed a mixture of gloom and …

PHOENIX, ARIZONA:The defeated Republican ticket carried itself with dignity but the audience showed a mixture of gloom and anger, writes Mark Hennessy

THE FRANK Lloyd Wright ballroom in the Biltmore Resort in Phoenix can seat 895 people on the numerous occasions when it plays host to Arizona's rich and powerful.

Shortly after 9pm on Tuesday night, it barely needed to offer standing room to several hundreds by the time Senator John McCain conceded defeat.

Several hundred more, admittedly, had gathered outside on the lawn to watch the McCain speech.

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The day had never been other than a preparation for defeat: even if stallholders were selling McCain Palin Victory Rally, November 4th T-shirts earlier for $15. Shortly after lunchtime some 4,000 Republican supporters, the ladies already in evening wear, began to gather in the Biltmore, the hotel where McCain married his wife, Cindy, 28 years ago.

The crowd illustrated, perhaps, some of the reasons for the Republicans' declining fortunes: it was almost entirely white, with a few Hispanics, but no blacks, bar the hotel staff.

It was also rich and conservative; and in many cases scared - and that is not too strong a word - of the man who will become the 44th president of the United States, Democrat Barack Obama.

Throughout the early evening, they tried to keep their spirits up, cheering to the rafters as Fox News declared meaningless victories for McCain in Tennessee and Mississippi.

Hank Williams jnr, who accompanied McCain for much of the last part of the campaign, came on stage; as did a parade of other local country and western musicians.

Frank Kasha, likeable, chatty and one who came from Iraq in 1968, said despondently: "These people don't know what socialism is. I do, and I don't want it here in the United States."

Fiercely proud of his adopted home, he joked, nevertheless: "I told my wife: if Obama wins, we're going to Ireland where they keep the taxes low.

"He shouldn't have run for president. He doesn't love the United States, not with the people that he associates. I have a few friends who are Democrats; but they are borderline."

In the end, the declaration of Obama's victory came in a rush, and took many in the crowd by surprise; and many of them had left ever before McCain came on stage outside to end his bid for the White House.

Sarah and Todd Palin emerged first; with the Alaskan governor slightly unsure of herself, and with the glint of tears in her eyes. Moments later, John and Cindy McCain followed.

It was, and will remain, perhaps, his finest hour in a career that has had many fine hours. "Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much. And tonight, I remain her servant.

"That is blessing enough for anyone, and I thank the people of Arizona for it," said the Vietnam veteran, who has represented the state for 23 years.

However, McCain, who has often braved unpopularity to bring unwelcome ideas during his political career, once again voiced thoughts uncomfortable for a partisan crowd to bear.

He congratulated his opponent, paid tribute to him for the campaign that he ran and for the millions, black and white, young and old, that he inspired and he pledged to work with him, and called him "my president".

The crowd fidgeted, and many bristled with unhappiness, particularly when he noted "the special significance" Obama's victory would have for African-Americans.

"What?" said a young, impeccably well-groomed and dressed woman, shaking herself with temper as she turned for encouragement to her friends behind her.

He bade the crowd to be quiet on a couple of occasions as they booed following references to vice president-elect Joe Biden "my friend of 35 years".

Later, the gathering made no attempt to watch Obama's acceptance speech from Chicago: "I can't believe that I have to call that man my president," said a woman, on the point of tears.

Another, Patti Ramsey, said the Republican had fallen beneath the tide of economic bad news, and a retaliation by some for George Bush's victory - not, so much, for the one in 2004, but his first one eight years ago.

"I feel wounded, but optimistic. The US is still the land of opportunity, but I am scared that Obama will destroy all that our parents and their parents sacrificed to build," she commented.

Paying tribute to Palin, McCain turned to her and said to the woman who must now see herself with hopes of running in 2012 that she had been "one of the best campaigners I've ever seen, and an impressive new voice in our party".

Turning to her husband, Palin, who received as she has done so often during the campaign the loudest cheer of the night, said, "That's nice", struggling by now to keep back the tears.

For a while, some of the crowd went back to party; but their heart was not in it and by midnight the caterers and clean-up staff were already busy at work.

In the foyer of the Frank Lloyd Wright ballroom, the stallholders still had a pile of McCain Palin Victory 2008 T-shirts unsold in front of them. The price now, though, had gone down to $5.