• by Kelly Samardak , November 7, 2008

23/6 Election Party, Huffington Post Offices, New York
November 4, 2008

It's almost time to move on, but first -- the third and final official election party wrap-up!  Hosted in the hallowed Huffington Post halls, with a room full of live bloggers gulping vino, a video camera or two, and a mishmash of blogging types, mag types, pr types, and randoms, this nerd fashion-splashed bacchanalian bonanza put the cherry on top of this American pie.  Did anyone embarrass themselves?  Maybe.  Was it me? Never!

Armed with my trusty +1, Gail Hilton, I was really looking forward to the 23/6 party not just for the new food possibility, but because I knew Brian Morrissey, Digital Editor at Adweek, Matt Caldecutt, PR dude at Trylon PR, Nichelle Stephens, bookkeeper, blogger, and social media strategist, John Capone, Managing Editor of MediaPost's Media and OMMA magazines, and whole slew of others would be there.  What better way to spend a historical night than in the company of friends?

We entered to the sweet sounds of CNN and to the first cardboard cutout of the evening, Sarah Palin.  She had not yet been defaced by this liberal crowd, but I knew, regardless of the results, she'd meet an unfortunate end.  Past Joe Biden's cardboard doppelganger and in the center of the great American drinkfest was a big fat wire-framed shelf thing supporting the projector, which splashed visions of Anderson Cooper (and eventually the ridiculous Will.I.Am hologram situation) against the wall.  Situated on the table portion were platters of red, white, and blue cookies and brown... brownies. 

We ran up to get a frosty mug of beer in a big blue plastic cup, once again sending me into my college time machine.  Oh, who am I kidding, we still use SOLO cups in Central Park and at apartment parties.  But these were special.  These cups smelled like wet microwaved skunk.  It was unanimous opinion that these puppies dropped off the assembly line and into the party still smoldering in pressed stinky plastic.  Thus, we and many others opted for vino.  Oh wait, and then they broke out the Budweiser and Bud Light tallboys, which add class to any party.   I looked around and saw one of my favorite Thrillist guys, Mike Rothman, Director of Advertising Sales.  I think that if you work for Thrillist, Huff Po, or 23/6 you are impervious to the heat in that office because to the left of Mike was the brown sweater sporting Pete Salisbury, wizard financier.

Speaking of sweaters, I also stumbled into the winter-hat-wearing comedian, Liam McEneaney.  His hat actually looked like a sweater.   I'm not sure what he was doing there, besides being a fun conversationalist.  I can only hope he's a humor consultant at 23/6 which, upon first week's impression, is trying to be the political-only Onion.  It's sort of hard to tell where the writing ends and the advertising begins, and almost immediately after Obama was declared president-elect, it went straight for the "how to be white/how to be black" obnoxious tongue-in-cheek, but not in the cheek enough, jabs.  It's cool, everyone's going for the political or Onionesque blog so let's hope for some tweaks and growth.  [insert your favorite deity] knows we're going to need a lot of laughs in this ridiculous economy, market, and still, the political ecosystem.  Moving on - I ran into the always-burly, always-curly David Blend, Editor in Chief at Thrillist.  He also doesn't mind being called Chauncey, so get to it.  Vimala, whose last name I didn't retain, was keeping Chauncey company by the cookies. 

I was surprised and delighted to run into Julia Kaganskiy, Editor at Unigo, a student-written college Web site (like Yelp for schools), whom I met at the Ars Technica party.  She was hanging towards the back with Joe Hasler, a special projects assistant at Popular Mechanics.  Not far from them was CEO and Unigo Founder, Jordan Goldman.  Out magazine was also in the house, discussing the semi-folding of Men's Vogue and the state of print pubs in general.

When Barack Obama was announced as the president-elect, the room exploded in cheers, pumping fists, distorted drunken emotion mouths, manly back slapping, hopeful pre-makeout hugs, and a bouncing blond in a teal dress, leaping up and down like she had just won the frat bachelor auction.

I eyeballed an AP photog as I dissolved in embarrassment when Anderson Cooper interviewed a hologram, and nearly broke my neck when I jumped up on the goodie table to get a better shot of the crowd as the table decided to try and fold up on itself.  Luckily the table in front of it was sturdier and I maintained my perch -- which is how I saw Lisa Lacy and a guest emerge through the crowd just as the party ran out of alcohol.

Regardless of your political affiliation, election night was electric.  The air was filled with sizzling anticipation and the streets eventually overflowed with booze-soaked political enthusiasts, students, weirdos, the young, and the old.  I was so proud to be a part of a country where, while never in complete agreement, I have the right to vote, and write, and whoop, and eat hotdogs.

The year is almost over! Has you party made Just An Online Minute?  Send invitations to kelly@mediapost.com and get on in!

See who was seen whispering to Sarah Palin in the online photo set !

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