It was a great excuse to have a party on a Tuesday night during midterms.

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Mae Ryan

More than 30 students watched election returns in Row house Bob at a party sponsored by alumni of Stanford in Washington. Super Tuesday provided a handy excuse to host a party for several groups, especially in a year of intense student activism and a fiercely competitive election.

In lounges across campus, hundreds of (sometimes-boozed) students watched returns pour in through the evening.

More people watched commentators pontificate about the neck-and-neck horse race between Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) than came to Super Bowl parties in the same locations on Sunday.

The intensity of interest was a testament to how passionate many have become about the contest and a reminder of the importance California assumed as the crown jewel in Tuesday’s primaries.

“This is the first time I’ve ever cared about Super Tuesday,” said Katie Wong ‘09, an Obama supporter who watched returns at the Axe & Palm in Old Union. “I’ve been really excited the whole day.”

Fraternities, row houses and student political groups sponsored informal gatherings.

“Super Tuesday is a huge event,” said Peter Griffin ‘08, the president of Kappa Alpha Psi. “A lot of students don’t have cable so we decided to provide that.”

The fraternity sponsored a party that brought 30 people to the Black Community Service Center, which was decked out with red, white and blue balloons.

Most of the three dozen people in Slavianskii Dom, which had a keg for the festivities, booed when CNN continued to air John McCain’s speech as Obama took the stage in a muted video feed on the screen.

The girl with the remote changed the channel to CBS, then featuring Obama, prompting cheers.

Tim Ford ‘10, a Mitt Romney supporter intently watching results online, colored in a map for the Republican and Democratic field each time a candidate won a state. It’s been a tradition of his since the 2000 election.

Thirty-five people in the Bob lounge ate a sheet cake decorated with the image of the American flag. As the winner of each state was called, a student taped a cutout of the state onto a poster for the candidate.

Knight Fellows, journalism students and professors met at 5 p.m. in a McClatchy Hall lounge to watch results. Because of the time difference, results from states on the East Coast streamed in for several hours before California’s polls closed.

Nipun Kant ‘10, sitting with about a dozen Toyon residents in the dorm’s cavernous lounge, listened to CNN playing in the background while scanning the same network’s Web site.

“Sometimes [on TV] they’re talking about things I’m not that interested in,” he said. “I want to find out about specific results that they’re not talking about.”