CROWN POINT | By 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, the dozens of Democrats and Republicans gathered to watch the election results at Buddy & Pal's Place were gone.

Bar stools were stacked upside down on top of tables, and the lingering patrons watched on the wall-mounted televisions as Sen. John McCain conceded the election to Sen. Barack Obama.

Lake County Republican Chairman John Curley shook hands with Democrat George Van Til, who was re-elected Tuesday to his position as Lake County Surveyor.

Van Til said he was blessed by God and supported by the voters who gave him a fifth term. The term may be his last. He might not run again, he said.

"There's a good chance that I won't," he said. "I can't say for sure."

Curley commended the election board for getting the votes tallied in a timely manner.

"They proved all the pundits wrong," he said. "It shows we can do a good election."

Although Curley supported McCain for president, he said it isn't the end of the world that Obama was elected.

"He'll be our president, and we'll move on," he said.

Van Til was excited for the news.

"I never expected to see in my lifetime a Democrat win in Indiana or come in close," he said.

The response was mixed at Buddy & Pal's, where both parties camped out to watch the results stream in.

After Obama was declared the next president, bar patrons volleyed briefly between shouts of "McCain!" and "Obama!"

Crown Point Republican Committeemen Bob Wilczynski and Mark LaMere sat on bar stools, drinking bottles of Miller Lite and talking about their disappointment in Obama's victory.

"I think this country just took two steps backward," Wilczynski said.

LaMere said it was appropriate he was in the men's restroom when he heard the announcement broadcast on the news.

Earlier in the night, before everything was official, both sides cheered on their respective victories. Republicans weren't surprised by the landslide re-election of Gov. Mitch Daniels.

About 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, Van Til stood in a room at Buddy & Pal's Place and shouted over the buzz of conversation that was hovering near the typical sports bar decibel.

"Hey!" he yelled to his fellow Democrats. "They just announced that Ohio went for Obama!"

The crowd cheered and applauded.

The chatter from table to table wasn't about the Bears or the Colts Tuesday night. It was about politics.

A glass window separated the Republicans and Democrats, who were awaiting the results at the local and national levels.