From uncertainty to ecstasy at Clinton’s party

10:17 p.m.
Clinton adviser Ann Lewis and Emily’s List chief Ellen Malcolm see each other on the gym floor and hug euphorically. “Ahhh! The women did it.” Malcolm points to exit poll data showing Clinton far outperformed Obama among women voters.

10:34 p.m.
The big screen flashes that The Associated Press has projected Clinton the winner. The crowd lets out a roar to wake the dead.

One 20ish campaign worker is crying. In a minute others are crying and hugging.

Euphoria breaks out.

Karen Hicks, a veteran New Hampshire operative, hugs Clinton deputy chief of staff Kris Balderston.

“It’s unbelievable,” Hicks tells me. “I’m so proud of New Hampshire.”

All around Hicks and Balderston, campaign workers 20 years old are crying, hugging and exchanging high fives, staggering. They look stunned, goofy, as if they had downed three cocktails in a row.

10:46 p.m.
CNN, too, calls the race for Clinton. Bedlam follows in the big gym.

Obama appears on the big screen, but the sound is turned off.

Someone turns on the sound as Obama says that thousands of voters turned out tonight because they were convinced that “this time must be different.”

A woman voice rings out, “Hillary’s gonna win!” and the crowd roars.

When I ask one of Clinton’s spokesmen, the battle-hardened political pro Phil Singer, how he feels, he tells me, “It’s a little overwhelming.” He seems to mean it.

10:55 p.m.
The sound is still turned up, but Obama's voice is drowned out as Clintonites talk to each other. Few seem to be paying attention to Obama.

11:04 p.m.
Hillary Clinton takes the platform. She mouths the words “thank you, thank you” and points to people in the crowd she recognizes.

Two minutes later, Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton come up to join her.

“Over the last week, I listened to you, and in the process I found my own voice,” the candidate says.

In the space of four hours, the crowd has gone from uncertainty to ecstasy.

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