The shindig thrown for Green gubernatorial candidate Dr. Jill Stein this past Tuesday was undoubtedly not your average bootlicking, butt-kissing, post-election political party. Held at Slade’s, a brick-faced blues joint in Roxbury, there were tall folks, fat folks, old folks, and young folks. There were silver ponytails and scraggly beards. There were neon beer signs aglow and campaign slogans taped to the wall. There were casual clothes and the faces of various races. As Green Party lieutenant governor candidate Tony Lorenzen said, motioning around the room, "This is what democracy looks like."

But the most unusual aspect of this bash was that the election results were strictly peripheral: the room’s four televisions were tuned to Fear Factor, According to Jim, and Frasier, even though Slade’s is cable-equipped. And while local percentages would sporadically flash on the bottom of the screens, those scorecards were clearly secondary in importance to the hummus-eating, beer-drinking, chicken-wing-feasting celebration.

The reason to celebrate, in case you’re wondering why a woman pulling only three percent of the Massachusetts vote would have reason to smile, is that the Harvard Medical graduate and Clean Elections proponent ran a great campaign. Stein’s stellar debate performance, coupled with the backbiting, name-calling, and veritable smackdown that exploded between major-party players O’Brien and Romney, caused her to emerge as an articulate, thoughtful, and mature challenger. And so even if the final count wasn’t as high as the progressive party would’ve liked — around 9 p.m., Lorenzen said he’d be "shocked" if they got under five percent — Stein’s campaign lent the Greens a new level of respect.

"This is a party now," offered Charles Behrens, a gray-haired Norwood resident wearing a Green Party T-shirt. "This is not a flash in the pan."

Around 10 p.m., Rainbow Coalition founder Mel King warmly introduced Stein, and she mounted the podium and spoke with no trace of defeat. "We have won because there is an outbreak of hope in Massachusetts," she said, tears welling up in her eyes. "Whether we win the governor’s office or not, we have won because we have done something at least as important: we have established a credible and unstoppable force for politics in Massachusetts that cannot be bought and sold behind closed doors."

On a television screen to Stein’s far right, the oppressive red-white-and-blue curtains of Romney’s empty platform weighed down heavily.