Forum Crowd Boos While Republicans Party Above

The same thing kept happening over and over again at the Kennedy School of Government's Institute of Politics Forum last night. Every time one of the three networks projected a Reagan sweep in yet another state, almost everybody hissed and booed.

"I would have liked to see it a little closer. This is pitiful," said Ted Stotler, a Masters of Public Administration candidate at the K-School who, as did almost everyone else interviewed, said he voted for Walter F. Mondale.

Crowded around an eight foot-wide television screen, and watched over by a portrait of John F. Kennedy '40, the roughly 120 people in attendance applauded loudest when a network finally projected some electoral votes for Mondale--the three in the District of Columbia.

"He won one! He actually won one!" Shouted one observer when the results appeared.

Hardly anyone interviewed said they expected the Minnesotan to win, but they said they were extremely surprised by the lopsided margin for President Reagan. "I expected Massachusetts and Boston to vote the way they did, but I was disappointed at the rest of the country," said Patricia Garrety, an Allston resident.

"I'm pleased that in Massachusetts Mondale was able to carry the state and a Democratic senator was able to win. But otherwise, I'm really disappointed," agreed Sara Salvide, an MPA candidate.

The Harvard Republican Club hosted its own crowded party on the 10th floor of Holyoke Center, but refused to allow reporters to come in and GOP revelers declined to comment extensively on their upstairs goings-on.

"We expected it," said Isabel T. Lagomasino '86. "I think he did a good job for the first four years. He was the better by far."

Michael L. Estle '88 said "there's a lot of happy people up there. Champagne's out." Estle said early in the evening that Harvard's Republicans were saving the music until the projected results were official: "It's not festive because Mondale hasn't conceded yet."

However, one Democrat who crashed the party courtesy of a GOP pal said that "actually, we think it's a shame. We don't agree with his policies," said Angela B. Nahl '85. Her companion, David E. Ruiz '83-5, said, "I was hoping that Mondale would win, and we could celebrate in front of a lot of Republicans."

Up at the Quad, there were more hungry people at Cabot House's grill than there were upstairs watching the results on television. "There were more people here, but they got disappointed. We're sorry," said a North House resident who asked not to be identified.

At Penny packet 23, five freshmen spent the early part of the evening flipping back and forth to find the network with the most cheery--to the Democrats, at least--news. They eventually resigned themselves to watching ABC, which had yet to predict that Massachusetts would go to Reagan.

In fact, one of the most moments of the evening appeared to come when four students in the Cabot Hall living room mistakenly thought that unsuccessful Republican U.S. Senate candidate Raymond Shamie called Reagan the "most defective President we've had in a long, long time"--instead of the "most effective," as Shamie actually said.

Michael D. Noinn contributed to this report