416 opponents: Despite loss, cause still wins
BY VERONICA DAEHN
All around the rectangular
room in the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln’s Nebraska
Union were signs - stuck to the
walls, the doors and the lectern
• up front. V
Just about everyone in the
crowd of more than 100 people
donned small circular stickers -
on the fronts of their shirts, the
backs of their shirts and else
where.
The signs and the stickers
said in one word and three letters
what the more than 100 people
in the room had been fighting for
since July.
“BAD. 416,” they read.
Despite the posters and the
stickers and the homemade T
shirts, the opponents of
Initiative 416 lost what they said
was their battle for civil rights
Tuesday night.
Nebraskans overwhelmingly
voted to pass Initiative 416, the
so-called Defense of Marriage
Amendment
As of midnight, with 39 per
cent of the precincts reporting,
56 percent of N.ebraskans voted
in favor of the amendment that
would ban gay and lesbian mar
riages, civil unions and partner
ships in the state. Forty-four per
cent of the vote tallied, or
122,476 people, voted against it.
Angela Clements, a leader in
the student movement against
the initiative, said the group had
n’t lost
“I knew way back in July we
were going to win either way,”
Clements said. “We’ve started a
movement, and it’s great.
“We were going to win
because things were going to be
talked about and issues were
debated.”
Clements told her supporters
that they had been outspent in
the campaign by a 6-1 margin.
But they hadn’t been outvoted 6
1, she said, and that was encour
aging.
“We have achieved victory
either way,” she said. “There are
so many issues to fight about We
can’t lose.” *
Mary Carol Bond, Lincoln
campaign coordinator for the
Vote No on DOMA Committee,
said the fight was not over.
Though there was some dis
appointment, Bond said there
was much more pride and appre
ciation for the work they had
done, she said.
“It’s an incredible triumph to
face the odds we faced,” Bond
said. “It was an incredible strug
gle, but also rewarding.”
In a speech, Clements
recounted the work in the fight
against 416.
Since late August, Clements
and her crew have sponsored a
rally to the Capitol for National
Coming Out Day. They’ve put
fliers in the mailboxes of all resi
dence-hall students. They've
held rallies outside the Nebraska
Union, they’ve traveled the state,
they’ve done fund-raising and
they’ve written letters to their
hometown newspapers.
“We’ve raised hell at UNL -1
can guarantee that,” Clements
said.
And the fact they got the
issue out there and got people to
debate it is important, she said.
Clements urged the students
involved with the fight against
Initiative 416 to stay involved.
“We're here, and we’re going
to stay here, and we're going to
keep fighting,” she said.
Former ASUN President
Andy Schuerman also was
instrumental in leading the stu
dent fight against the initiative.
The work was especially
meaningful for him, he said,
because of personal issues that
coincided with the struggle
We raised hell at UNL
-1 can guarantee
that:
Angela Cements
Huskers Against 416
against the amendment.
"I feel emotionally exhaust
ed,” Schuerman said. “But this
fight has shown me glimpses of
light, and we need those to keep
going.”
Schuerman said he spent five
hours standing on the comer of
27th and Normal streets Tuesday
afternoon with a sign against
Initiative 416.
A man passed him once and
told Schuerman that he support
ed what he was doing. About an
hour later, that same man
returned, pulled out a notebook,
wrote “Vote No to 416” on it and
stood with his makeshift sign
alongside Schuerman for about
an hour.
It’s these glimpses that
Schuerman is talking about.
But the challenge now is to
stay motivated, he said.
"Win or lose on 416, we still
have a long way to go,” he said.
Derek Lippincott/DN
J.Wright consoles his friend, Roy Wright on Tuesday night ata party in Omaha after
Initiative 416 passed.
Nebraska
Republican Senate
candidate Don
Stenberg and his
wife, Sue, make an
appearance at a
Republican rally at
theCbmhusker
Hotel on Tuesday
night Gov.Mike
Johanns,
Congressman
Doug Bereuter and
Ui. Sen. Chuck
Hageiencouraged
voters to keep
their hopes up for
a Stenberg victory.
Stenberg lost but
<Rd not concede
the race.
NateWagner/DN
Stenberg refuses to concede race
BY JOSH FUNK
Don Stenberg defied pollsters
by fighting to get within 1 percent of
Ben Nelson for Nebraska’s open
Senate seat, and he refused to con
cede early today until all the votes
were counted. .
Yet CBS News and the Omaha
World-Herald picked Nelson as the
winner around 1:30 a.m., and The
Associated Press joined them at
3:15 a.m.
With 92 percent of the precincts
reporting, Nelson pulled ahead of
Stenberg 51 percent to 49 percent
Nelson held a 7,957 vote edge.
“(Stenberg's) not ready to con
cede right now, and we aren’t
either,” Nebraska Republican Party
Chairman Chuck Sigerson said.
Stenberg, the state’s attorney
general, planned to hold a press
conference today when all the votes
were counted. If the candidates
remain separated by less than 1
percent in die final count, die state
government will be required to
recount the votes.
“We wanted to put a little
excitement in this for you,”
Stenberg told supporters at a rally at
the Cornhusker Hotel earlier
Ibesday evening. “So far it’s just the
way we planned it"
Ballot complications in one of
the state’s largest counties con
tributed to the suspense. Sarpy
County election officials had to
make photocopies of about 1,000
ballots to accommodate heavy
voter turnout late Tuesday, and
election workers were tallying them
by hand and weren’t expected to
finish until at least 4 a.m.
At his campaign rally in Omaha,
Democratic former Gov. Nelson
sent his supporters home after 2
a.m. thinking he had won.
“Even though I haven't heard
from my opponent, I think we have
heard from the people of
Nebraska,” Nelson said.
Stenberg trailed Nelson by 31
percentage points in an opinion
poll in March but narrowed the gap
to 12 percentage points in a copy
righted Omaha World-Herald poll
released last week.
In the weeks leading up to the
election, Stenberg said his strategy
was to stay close in the eastern
part of the state and rely on the r
mostly Republican 3rd District j
voters to seal a victory.
A host of top Nebraska
Former NU Coach Osborne
takes race in 3rd District
OSBORNE from page 1
He has dominated his oppo
nent, Rollie Reynolds, for months
with opinion polls’ showing his
approval ratings topping out near
80 percent
Osborne said his strong show
ing had to do with his name recog
nition from being the Nebraska
football coach.
But he said his time as a coach
gave Nebraskans a chance to see
how he works as a person.
Osborne’s unparalleled domi
nation did not go unnoticed at the
Republican campaign party at die
Comhusker Hotel in Lincoln.
Murmurs in the crowd gath
ered at the hotel jokingly com
pared the tight presidential race
with Osborne's blow-out victory.
Osborne, though, told no
jokes about his opponent
Instead, he said Reynolds was
a good opponent
His friendly tone contrasted
sharply with his blow-out victory.
Reynolds was equally compli
mentary about Osborne.
"Tom will make a great con
gressman,” Reynolds said.
Republicans attended Stenberg’s
rally to lend support to the party’s
candidates.
After securing his 12th term in
Congress, Doug Bereuter com
pared this year’s Senate race to the
1996 contest in which Sen. Chuck
Hagel vanquished Nelson by 14
points after trailing throughout the
race.
“I think our former Gov. Ben
Nelson has that deja vu sick feeling
in his stomach again,” Bereuter
said.
The partisan crowd rode an
emotional roller coaster through
the night as the lead alternated in
news reports. At one point Stenberg
appeared to pull away from Nelson
only to fall back into a dead heat
after one news station corrected its
numbers.
Gov. Mike Johanns’ predictions
of a long night awaiting results cer
tainly held true.
“When I came into the hotel I
didn’t see anyone with their sleep
ing bags,” he said at 10 p.m. “You’re
going to need them.”
Throughout the campaign,
which was marked by aggressive TV
ads from both candidates, Stenberg
stressed his conservative views and
pledged to govern as a team with
Hagel and Republican presidential
nominee George W. Bush.
If Stenberg wins, it would mark
the first time since 1976 that
Nebraska has had an all
Republican Congressional delega
tion. It would mean the state’s high
est-ranking Democratic officehold
er would be state Sen. Dave Landis
- who has served in the nonparti
san Legislature since 1978.
Stenberg has two years remain
ing on his term as attorney general,
which he would resign if elected to
the Senate. *
Nelson and Stenberg are vying
to replace retiring Democratic Sen.
Bob Kerrey, who will become presi
dent of New School University in
NewYork.
The Associated Press con
tributed to this report
Thursday, November 9, 3:15 - 5:30
Military and Naval Science Building
(14th and Vine Streets, 2nd Floor)
Learn more about Air Force ROTC, meet Air Force ROTC
cadets, listen to Air Force officers discuss their Air Force careers,
enjoy a Veteran’s Day Retreat Ceremony ...FREE^^MB^
pizza and pop! BMeSF W&&
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
Call or e-mail Major Tammy Lundborg, 472-2473 or tlnndborg2@unl.edu,
__for more info or to let her know you will attend.
n ; ■ ■ ■i'i: i. ■
416 supporters:
'The Lord did it'
416 from page 1
"That's right,” she said.
“The Lord did it”
Mills said although she
expected the initiative to
pass, she was excited.
“We believed, with con
viction, we needed to protect
the institution of marriage,”
she said.
Mills’ confidence didn’t
falter throughout the cam
paign, she said.
When a copyrighted
Omaha World-Herald poll
said support of the initiative
was 59 percent, Mills said
she thought the numbers
were too low.
“The polls are unfair to
conservative movements,”
she said.
Mills and her supporters
have faced heavy criticism
from some who said the ini
tiative went too far, and said
it was discriminatory against
gays.
University of Nebraska
Lincoln Interim Chancellor
Harvey Perlman said he
opposed the initiative
because it would discourage
potential faculty and staff
members from seeking
employment at UNL
But Mills said the pas
sage of the initiative sends a
strong message to business
es that Nebraskans are
strongly pro-family, not anti
gay
"We're open to every
one,” she said. “It's about
marriage -we’re not about
being discriminatory to any
body.”
Mills participated in a
heated debate two weeks
ago. At the debate were
members of a student group
formed against the initiative,
Huskers Against 416.
The majority of the
debate crowd was opposed
to the initiative, and Mills
endured heavy criticism and
name-calling throughout.
But on Tuesday, more
voters were on Mills’ side.
Much of the night
revolved around spiritual
matters, with the group tak
ing time to pray for the
opponents of the initiative
after the results were
announced.
The supporter^’ room
also had a large banner on
the wall, supported by the
Nebraska Family Council, of
which Mills is the executive
director.
The banner quoted a
Bible verse, Micah 6:8: “He
has showed you, O man,
what is good. And what does
the Lord require of you? To
act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with
your God.”
Deb Badeer, a supporter
of the initiative, said she hafi
mixed feelings about its pas
SflPP *
Badeer said she was
excited the initiative passed,
but she said she was disap
pointed the opponents of
the initiative were angry.
"We never had the inten
tions to be hateful,” she said.
“There's a sadness in my
heart along with the joy.”
David Vaughn, pastor at
the Victory Bible Fellowship
in Grand Island, said he had
a good feeling now that the
initiative has passed. '
“I feel the people of
Nebraska have spoken and
spoken loudly,” he said.
But a downside to the
initiative’s passage is how
some people lives will be
affected by it, he said.
"As a pastor, I hope we
can reach out to the homo
sexual community, even
though they probably hate
us now,” he said.
