At last, a chance for their cheers

COLUMBUS, OHIO —  They rehearsed the chant for weeks. Finally, in a stately ballroom, they yelled it:

“Hil-la-ry -- our no-mi-nee. H-R-C - to vic-to-ry!”

Students from Ohio State University, alongside hundreds of other ebullient supporters, watched and cheered Hillary Rodham Clinton’s exuberant victory speech Tuesday night at the Columbus Athenaeum after she won Ohio’s Democratic primary.

“We’re going on, we’re going strong, and we’re going all the way,” Clinton told the crowd packed into the Olympian ballroom.

“Ohio has written a new chapter in the history of this campaign, and we’re just getting started.”

When CNN called Rhode Island for Clinton earlier in the evening, the crowd in Ohio let out ear-piercing screams of delight as they watched the result on a big screen in front of the stage.

As the image on the screen shifted to Texas, where Obama was then leading, yells gave way to jeers.

Then, shortly before 11 p.m., CNN called Ohio for Clinton.

Supporters in Columbus jumped up and down, impulsively hugging everyone in sight.

Mary Kay Barnes, 42, and Bonnie Silvaroli, 49, had tears in their eyes, watching the results.

“We just wanted her to win so bad,” said Barnes, who had driven 2 1/2 hours to be at the party.

“We love her.”

Jennifer Lawson, a third-grade teacher, had come to the conference center wearing a black T-shirt with a primary battle cry written in white: “Meet Me in Ohio.”

“E-lated,” she said of Clinton’s Ohio results, elongating the word with relish.

“Our country is ready for a change,” she said.

“A change that is rooted in experience.”

Supporters continued to arrive throughout the rainy night, handing over their Clinton campaign buttons to go through metal detectors and airport-like security at the entrance to the conference center.

Inside, the mood was buoyant, pumped up by people such as Erik Meinhardt, 20, a second-year philosophy and political science student who led 16 university students in Hillary chants.

The senator from New York inspires as much excitement as the senator from Illinois, he said from his perch on a packed bench behind Clinton.

After weeks of volunteering, of going hoarse from shouting, the rewards were sweet: a victory in his state and a shout-out.

“We’re going to stop Obama’s momentum,” he said.

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louise.roug@latimes.com