In a victory that The Hartford Courant declared to be “fueled by a record turnout and lopsided margins among urban poor, wealthy suburbanites and the young,” it was clear that the campus community contributed to Senator Barack Obama’s (D-IL) victory on Super Tuesday. University students swarmed the polls in precinct 14, helping log the largest number of votes for Obama than any of Middletown’s other precincts.

“If you take out [precinct 14’s] votes, the city had gone for Barack but just narrowly,” remarked Councilman Vincent Loffredo. “The difference in making it a more substantial win came about in the efforts of Wesleyan students, without a doubt.”

In Middletown, Obama garnered 3,401 votes and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) received 2,744. In precinct 14, which accounts for the University, some residential areas and some elderly housing, Obama won 578 votes and Clinton won 160, a more dramatic split.

Overall, in Connecticut, Obama beat Clinton 51 to 47 percent, sending 26 delegates to Obama and 22 to Clinton.

“I feel elated by this result,” said Áine McCarthy ’10, a member of Students for Barack Obama (SFBO). “If anything, it reminds us that our voices, our votes, matter. Connecticut matters. Middletown matters. Wesleyan matters. Students matter.”

According to Loffredo, shortly after 4 p.m. classes let out at the University, students were lined up and down Williams Street waiting to cast their votes.

“They had to get additional ballots printed up because the turnout was so large,” Loffredo added.

Middletown saw 51 percent voter turnout during this election, in contrast with just 32 percent four years ago.

“I think that the turnout in precinct 14 was clearly about the city norm, and that’s because of the extraordinary effort in that area,” Loffredo said. “There was a grassroots effort to get out to vote and the results speak for themselves.”

On-campus groups worked hard to get students to register.

“Many students got lost in the paperwork and confusing deadlines surrounding voter registration and didn’t realize that they could be registered in their home state and still vote in the Connecticut primary,” McCarthy said. “The awareness that was raised on campus and the voters that were registered allowed us to take Connecticut back from Clinton.”

According to Middletown’s Registrar of Voters, 634 University students registered as Democrats and 11 as Republicans.

Perhaps overshadowed by the thrill of the Democratic race, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) won the Middletown Republican primary with 620 votes. Coming in second place with 370 votes, to the Wesleyan College Republicans’ dismay, was former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R), who the group endorsed earlier this week. Romney dropped out of the race on Thursday afternoon.

“Like most Romney supporters, I am disappointed with [Tuesday’s] results,” said Mytheos Holt ’10, secretary of the College Republicans. “I also think the Republican party will regret them when faced with the Democratic nominee. As for Barack Obama, I think John McCain would appear to be doubly the tired old man that he is against Obama, but that could very well change.”

Holt also expressed concern over McCain’s Vice Presidential choice, should he receive the Republican nomination.

“If, as it looks, McCain picks Huckabee as Veep, then I almost certainly couldn’t pull the lever for him,” Holt said. “Huckabee is a Populist, and Populism is the cancer of American politics.”

In Connecticut, McCain received 52 percent while Romney had 33.