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Friday, November 5, 2004


11/4/04
Election with Hunter
By Troy Hooper/Aspen Daily News Staff Writer


WOODY CREEK — It was Bailey's Irish Cream and Royal Salute Scotch Whiskey at the Thompson household on Election Night. A bottle of Cristal intended for a John Kerry victory remained uncorked, chilling on ice in a backroom.

A hungry smell of anticipation hung in the kitchen at Owl Farm, which morphed into a makeshift Democratic headquarters as Hunter S. Thompson hunkered down with a small group of friends and manned what seemed like a global switchboard as calls came pouring in from some of the biggest names in modern American lore.

Even a few pollsters dialed up The Good Doctor in search of the most up-to-minute score. Whether they were calling to ascertain Thompson's classified political knowledge or gauge his gambler's instinct was unclear. But without question, his phone was chiming more often than the Liberty Bell.

"I don't mean to pop the bad news on you Bubba but John Kerry is getting beat just like George McGovern did in 1972 — or worse," Thompson proclaimed to his nephew well before the news networks gave any hint that Bush Nation was marching toward a second term. "The tide turned so quickly it was difficult to breathe."

Actor Sean Penn, presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, Kerry press secretary David Wade and others checked in with Thompson who sat on a chair inhaling cigarettes and stiff drinks in between bites of breakfast, which wasn't served to the late-awakening writer until after the sun went down.

Asked for a candid assessment of the election, Thompson put it plainly to Penn.

"I've got the worst possible news. Colorado has gone to hell like all the other states," Thompson said into the speakerphone. "They must have all voted the same way they prayed."

The way Thompson's neighbors voted was far removed from the national outcome. Bush mustered just 2,750 of Pitkin County's electorate while Kerry received 6,275.

Nationally, Bush garnered the highest total number of votes ever, winning 51 percent of the record voter turnout, which preliminary estimates have put at roughly 117 million. He is the first president to win a majority of the vote since 1988 when his father beat another Democrat from Massachusetts: Michael Dukakis.

"The news is getting logarithmically more horrible," Thompson told another caller as the night wore on. "They're all committing suicide up in Boston."

Thompson has always had a keen eye for politics. His best-known work on the subject is "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72" — an up-close study of South Dakota Senator George McGovern's effort to unseat President Richard Nixon.

Over the weekend, McGovern and Thompson discussed the election: The two old friends suggested Bush might be more dangerous than Nixon. Kerry would make a fine president, they both agreed, as they noted the similarities between the two eras.

This year's Democratic presidential candidate must have seen some similarities between now and then, too.

When Kerry visited Aspen last June for a fund-raiser, he brought three hardcover copies of "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72" to have them autographed. Thompson obliged and struck a friendship with Kerry, serving as his unofficial Aspen tour guide, meeting the candidate on a rain-soaked tarmac at Sardy Field and riding in a Secret Service procession up Red Mountain, showing Kerry the sights and conferring with him on national affairs.

Now, five months later, Kerry has met the same fate as McGovern.

"I feel like somebody's died," Thompson lamented as the sun was preparing to rise early Wednesday morning. "I'm just not sure who it was."

He deemed the election "another failure of the youth vote."

"Yeah, we rocked the vote all right. Those little bastards betrayed us again."

But despite his disappointment, Thompson remained remarkably upbeat.

"Their army is how much bigger than mine? Three percent? Well shucks, Bubba. Now is the time to establish a network and an attitude," he said. "You make friends in moments of defeat. People in defeat tend to bond because they need each other. We can't take the attitude that it's over and we give up. We're still here."

Thompson added: "I'm proud to have known John Kerry."

Troy Hooper can be reached at hoop@aspendailynews.com.