In barbershop, anxiety as results roll in

By Mike Trask

Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Darryl Jones, a tall, quiet 35-year-old barber, arrived at work Tuesday to find an Obama flier hanging on the front door of his shop.

He had voted.

For Barack Obama.

So at 8:30 a.m. he begins cutting the hair on the first of 20 heads at Executive Cuts Barber Shop, on West Owens Avenue in a largely black area of Las Vegas. His customers, continuing a trend that has lasted for months, want to talk politics.

With his soft demeanor and backward brown hat, Jones moves effortlessly around one of the six black leather chairs, holding the clippers delicately with his fingertips, taking in the chatter. His 11-year-old son Darryl Jr. sits watching, waiting his turn for a haircut on this most important of days.

Nothing is off limits. Customers, many who have been going to his shop for nearly 20 years, talk race, religion, gas prices and, sometimes most passionately, NFL football.

On a day of high points, a low one comes when a 24-year-old enters to collect a free haircut. Jones had lost a bet when his favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys, took a brutal loss last weekend.

Customers flow in wearing “I voted” stickers and those without the stickers say they voted last week or earlier.

They all voted for Obama. Jones and the other barbers say they have had one customer — just one — in the past month who was a John McCain supporter. He stayed quiet about it.

As the day wears on, CNN’s election coverage is briefly changed to a show about car crashes. “I’m too nervous to watch this all day,” says Angela Richard, 43, a co-owner, with Jones, of the shop.

Richard got to stand behind Michelle Obama at a rally in North Las Vegas last weekend. She has been saving a bottle of champagne for this night, hoping to celebrate an Obama win. If he loses, well, she’ll probably still drink the champagne. After all, it is her ninth wedding anniversary.

Just after 4 p.m., the results start trickling in, displayed on four flat-screen televisions around the shop. Jones peeks up from his haircuts, pulling the straight razor back as he takes a look at the numbers. McCain has a lead in early returns in several states.

Tension quiets the normally boisterous shop. Nobody speaks; the only sound is from a talking head on the televisions and Jones’ clippers.

“This is going to be a close one,” he says. “It might go down to the wire.”

Soon, however, the mood brightens. Those screens show that eight Northeastern states are going to Obama, giving the candidate a 77-34 lead in electoral college votes.

The chatter begins again.

At 5:38 p.m., as the barbers sweep up the linoleum floor, networks declare that Pennsylvania will go for Obama.

“Pennsylvania?” asks the suddenly exuberant 47-year-old James Fuller. “We never win Pennsylvania.”

The last cuts of the day are being made.

Obama is edging closer. Jones whispers, “I’ve never believed we’d have a black president.”

As happy as he is at the prospect, Jones hopes that soon his shop will be filled more with talk about sports and less about politics. Frankly, he never really knew his customers’ political views until recently.

Now he’s glad he does. It has drawn this community closer.

Jones has to run. He needs to pick up his son from football practice.

He hops in his Dodge pickup truck and plays the new Ice Cube album. He collects his son and is eastbound on Interstate 215 near Durango Drive, less than five minutes from his home, when at 8:06 p.m., a text message tells him the election has been called for Obama.

He turns to his son and says simply, “Barack won.”

“For real?” the young man asks.

“Yep.”

That is all that is said. The history lessons and meaning will be explained later.

For the moment Jones smiles.

Mike Trask can be reached at 259-8826 or at [email protected].