After eating their fill of the starchy buffet at U Street’s U-Topia lounge, Councilmember Phil Mendelson‘s crew—many union folks, and a D.C. for Democracy contingent—idly chatted as results started to roll in around 10:30 p.m. With 12 percent of precincts reporting, he was leading Michael D. Brown by a two to one margin. Fist-bumps broke out, and Phil hugged one supporter.

It was a strange way to recieve the results, with most of the partygoers huddled around blackberries or iPhones. Mendelson has help his election night party at U-topia since 1998, and it never occurred to him to have a place with some form of mass communication, like a television, or maybe a radio. He doesn’t even have a smart phone himself. “Though that might change after the election,” he notes.

When, it looks like, he’ll still have a job.