Hope and Change candidate Lacy awaits results at church, dorm

Casually listening to a podcast of Rush Limbaugh in his dorm room, Andrew Lacy was calm before setting out for bible study at the University Lutheran Church. It was 5 p.m., three hours before the results of the student government election were set to come in.


"I don't expect to win," said Lacy, a junior broadcasting major who ran for the president of the ASUN with the Party of Hope and Change.


He didn't expect to finish last either.


After a hearty meal of chicken and rice, "prison food" as Pastor Bill called it, the service was set to begin. Candles of all sizes illuminated the oval-shaped theater, cascading off the pews and faces of the twenty-odd bodies in attendance.

Several short-knit gospel hymns and a homily later, Lacy was up on the altar, knelt against a finished oak podium facing the cross for a span of ten minutes.

It would have been utter silence, but the click of this reporter's camera shutter crept sparingly.


Bible study was to follow, but not before exchanging laughs with friends in the corridor. Ten of his close friends gathered on couches and chairs, discussing the Bible and their interpretations of God's word. With his somber broadcaster voice, Lacy read several passages. As others in the group discussed among each other, Lacy sat silently, checking his watch and phone with the thought of election results in his head.

The clock struck 8:00 p.m., and the results still weren't in, so it was back to his dorm room to check the Daily Nebraskan Web site. Still nothing.

"I'm guessing there was a computer problem of some sort," he said.


Two hours and an episode of Myth Busters later, he decided to head to the Nebraska Union to investigate; the electoral commission could ignore his repeated phone calls and text messages, but they couldn't ignore his physical presence.

A short conversation with a presumptive student senator led to the phone call he had been waiting for.

"We got our asses handed to us," he said, dejected yet relieved.


The wait was over.


But that didn't stop him from viewing the numbers on paper, which put the results in perspective.