Volunteers at Labor Temple watch results closely

In a basement office in the Labor Temple in downtown Everett, several Democratic elections volunteers watch Internet election coverage on MSNBC.

Obama posters hang on the walls, Rick Larsen bumper stickers litter the table and a box of glazed donuts sits uneaten in the cluttered office.

“Florida is too close to call,” commentator David Gregory says.

“But he’s up,” Heather Wizell shouts back at the computer screen.

Barack Obama is the first candidate the Gold Bar mother has ever campaigned for. A widow herself, Wizell was touched by Obama’s response when his grandmother died Sunday. She spent this morning handing out Obama pamphlets and talking to voters walking by on the street.

With Obama ahead, she’s feeling good, but as she waits for more results to come in, she’s both grateful for and frustrated by minute-by-minute coverage.

“The beauty of the Internet is it’s instant information,” she says. “But it’s also sometimes instant exaggeration.”

Harry Abbott joins her in front of the computer screen. They’re both waiting to see how Florida will fall.

“It looks great,” says Abbott, secretary of the 38th Legislative District Democrats. “Things are going as projected, but we’re still anxious. Just because the polls say it will go one way, we actually have to watch to see if they do. We’re also concerned about the Senate.”