PRIMARY COVERAGE: Pittsburgh abuzz for primary election

All Democrats’ eyes were on Pennsylvania yesterday, and Helen Nalepa had been waiting for this… All Democrats’ eyes were on Pennsylvania yesterday, and Helen Nalepa had been waiting for this day for the past 20 years.

Nalepa, who is 87 years old, volunteered at the primary election polling place at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Blind in North Oakland. She said she has worked the same polling place for 20 of the 60 years she’s lived on North Dithridge Street, and yesterday, she was there from 6 a.m. to at least 8 p.m.

She was one of many Pittsburghers who put energy into the election on Tuesday, volunteering, voting and celebrating a hotly contested primary election between Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

It was the 46th primary in the election cycle, the last being Mississippi’s more than 6 weeks ago.

While Nalepa was helping voters exercise their American right, Pitt student Robin Lane sat at a table for Students for Barack Obama outside the William Pitt Union encouraging passers-by to vote.

“I don’t even care who they vote for,” she said between yells to passers-by.

“Did you vote today?” she asked, adding, “I just want you to vote. If you don’t, it’s like you don’t exist.”

At the polls on campus – in Posvar Hall, Soldiers ‘ Sailors Memorial and the School for the Blind – 10- to 15-minute waits tied students up between finals.

Nalepa said it seemed to her like there were few students at her polling place, and Lane said she felt turnout at Pitt had been low, judging by the responses to her calls to vote.

“People are probably studying for finals,” she said.

Despite the final exam period this week, Pitt senior Schwanne Kibus took time today to call Democrats and canvass door to door for the Clinton campaign.

An intern with the campaign since the beginning of April, she stopped her work at about 8:45 p.m. to attend a Clinton campaign celebration at Mullen’s Bar and Grill on the North Shore.

“People were calling the campaign office just to tell us they voted for Hillary,” she said, “and now we’re celebrating, it’s crazy.”

Clinton was the projected winner soon after the polls closed at 8 p.m., and the crowd at her campaign party chanted “Madame President” and “Hill-ar-y” off and on throughout the night.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, an endorser of Clinton, was not present at the event, but his colleague and fellow Clinton endorser, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, was in attendance.

“Clinton’s policies are good for the economy, the middle class and the infrastructure of the state,” Onorato said. “These six weeks have been great for the party and for Pennsylvania.”

The mood at the Obama campaign celebration was no less exciting at the Church Brew Works in Lawrenceville.

Caribbean Vibes Steelband kept the noise level high with calypso music, but the crowd hushed to hear Obama deliver his concession speech at about 11 p.m.

“Barack himself indicated he wouldn’t win,” said Clifford Levine, Western Pennsylvania’s Obama campaign coordinator. “This is one of many, and he was only going to lose a few delegates.

“To make this race into a winner-take-all race is wrong. This is a race about delegates, and he only will have a few to make up.

“In the end, the Democrats will be united,” he said.

At the end of the night, Clinton garnered 55 percent of Pennsylvania votes to Obama’s 45 percent.

Clinton won by eight percentage points in Allegheny County, with 163,167 votes to Obama’s 136,772, CNN reported.

In all, Clinton added 52 delegates to her count while Obama added 46, raising the total delegate count to 1,694 for Obama and 1,556 for Clinton, including pledged super-delegates.

Sen. John McCain was already locked in as the Republican candidate for president, and he won 72 percent of Pennsylvania, with Rep. Ron Paul taking 15 percent and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 11 percent.

Pennsylvania operates its primary election system as a closed primary vote, meaning registered party members may vote only for candidates within their own party.