This morning, fourth-year College student Erin Raub woke up sick. No, it wasn't because of the presidential election -- she had the flu.
"But besides that, I feel like s***," Raub said.
She had started out feeling optimistic on Tuesday that Sen. John Kerry would win the election, but as the night dragged on and the situation grew increasingly grim for the Democratic candidate, Raub eventually "threw in the towel."
"I mourned all day," she said.
Raub admitted that she was surprised by President Bush's victory, but noted that the element of surprise was probably brought on by her being surrounded by those who voted for Kerry.
"Even the Republicans I knew voted Democrat," Raub said. "I'm not from the South, so I don't know a lot of hardcore Republicans. I didn't think it would be possible for Bush to win."
Raub said she has no complaints about the fairness of the election.Still, she is uneasy about the outcome.
"Bush doesn't have to worry about reelection now, so he can do whatever he freaking wants," she said. "I'm terrified. I hope there won't be a draft. I feel like he's so pro-offensive. ... I feel like we're definitely going to need to go into other countries besides Iraq, and we're already overextended with our military."
Despite her frustration following this election, Raub said there are lessons to be learned.
"It's very eye-opening," she said. "I was listening to the news yesterday, and they said basically that most Republicans voted for Bush but most Democrats were voting against Bush and not for Kerry. I feel like if the Democrats want to win, we need... to have a person that the whole country can relate to more"