KEVIN B. KLAUS/Arizona Summer Wildcat Pima student Tim Scott talks with Tucson resident Mimi Adams about purchasing bumper stickers in support of John Kerry. People gathered at the Carpenter's Union Hall at 15th St. and Plumber Ave. on Thursday night to show their support of John Kerry.

Upcoming elections spark political fervor in UA students

Signs that the UA will see a surge in political activity this fall semester have begun to appear, as politically active students work at getting their preferred presidential candidate elected this November.

Last week the efforts of politically active students intensified as they celebrated the Democratic presidential ticket or rallied Vice President Dick Cheney at the Pima County fairgrounds.

Members of the College Republicans, Students for Bush, the Young Democrats, the Progressive Youth Caucus, and the Campus Libertarians have pledged to educate and get students excited about the issues and their party leaders.

The democratic and republican clubs will be phone banking, recruiting new members, registering students to vote, and hosting fun events they hope will interest students in their party's platform.

Josh Silverstein, a political science senior and president of the Progressive Youth Caucus, said democratic leaders like Rep. Raul Grijalva and County Supervisor of district 5, Richard Elias, will be coming to campus to campaign.

Bill Mishler, a professor of political science and former head of the political science department, said the enthusiasm Arizona students are showing for politics recently, if mobilized and harnessed by one political party, could mean the election for Bush or Kerry.

"The election is going to be close," Mishler said. "Arizona could well be the pivotal state, and if students vote heavily one way or another it could potentially tip the balance in the state and potentially tip the balance nationally."

Kelly Hawke, a political science and creative writing senior and member of College Republicans and Students for Bush, said studies have shown that aside from the political views of a person's parents, the biggest determinant of whom a person will vote for is the political party of the president in power when that person came of voting age.

That potential to make big change has many students excited about the debates, the political activities, and the campaigning that campus will see this fall.

Students from both the Republican and Democratic parties are confident their candidates will win.

Brian Mote, a communications senior who was volunteering at the Republican Headquarters last Wednesday, said though he thinks most UA students will vote for Bush, the College Republicans will still aggressively recruit new members.

Carlos Sierra, a political science and economics senior and deputy field organizer for the Kerry campaign in Pima County, said voting Bush out of office wouldn't be a hard decision for most students to make.

"Everyone wants Bush out of office," he said. "Republican campaigning is going to have no effect at all on the outcome of the election."

Sierra joined local democrats at a party at Carpenter's Union Local Hall last Thursday to watch Kerry's official acceptance speech.

KEVIN B. KLAUS/Arizona Summer Wildcat Tucson residents gather at the Carpenter's Union Hall at 15th St. and Plumber Ave. on Thursday night to watch Presidential candidate John Kerry speak on TV. Many UA Young Democrats believe that Kerry is sure to win the presidential election.

The division between Bush supporters and detractors might end up getting a lot more students involved in political activity than in the past, Mishler said.

"I've noticed that a lot of students are a lot more excited about this election than the last," said Mishler. "There have been a whole series of issues that President Bush has taken positions on that excite students."

Amelia Hinsdale, a political science junior said a number of the Republican Party's positions have gotten her excited in a positive way. Though her mother is a democrat and her father an independent, Hinsdale decided to join the College Republicans after stopping by the club's table on campus and realizing her beliefs aligned with the party's.

Sierra said the campaign of former presidential candidate Howard Dean has had a lot to do with pulling young liberal people into the political process.

Other young democrats said Bush has played a bigger role in mobilizing them.

"This is the first year I'm really involved in political activities," Rose Whitehair, a medical student said at the Democrats' party last Thursday. "But Bush and his years in the White House have motivated me. He's put a lot of lives on the line unnecessarily and that hurts."

Whitehair, whose grandfather was a Navajo code-talker in WWII, said one of the many comments that most struck her from Kerry's acceptance speech was his pledge to support the military.

At a rally for a different political party, talk of supporting the troops was also a favorite theme for Kelly Hawke. She said Vice President Dick Cheney's speech last Saturday at Pima County Fairgrounds reminded the public of who would do a better job of protecting the country and its troops.

Hawke said she and other republican students were among the 3,000 who attended the rally, which she said left her feeling "excited and energized."

Republican students helped with everything from making signs for the rally to driving the motorcade for the vice president's staff.

Meanwhile, at the new Republican headquarters on Oracle Rd., students joined other activists in protesting Bush and Cheney.

"I came out to show support for Kerry and to say that Cheney's not welcome here," said Kenneth Badyl, a MIS senior. He said he's "ashamed" of having voted for George Bush in 2000 and said Saturday was the first time he attended a protest.

While some are protesting for the first time, others will be voting for the first time in November.

Charles Reid, a 17-year old engineering junior and College Republican, said he will cast his first vote ever for Bush. "I feel empowered," he said.

Reid said he expects the student body to be divided on political issues this semester as the election nears.

In his summer classes, Reid said heated political debates are often launched when students read his "We Kill for Peace" patch or the red "Viva la Reagan Revolucion" T-shirt he was wearing last Wednesday at Republican Headquarters, where College Republicans gathered to protest the Democratic National Convention.

Other students said they feel the two party tickets don't offer them much of a choice.

Ben Kalafut, an optics grad student and head of the Campus Libertarians, said the club will bring Michael Badnarik, the libertarian presidential candidate, to speak on campus September 2.

"We hope to spark interest in our end of the political spectrum," Kalafut said. Though he said Campus Libertarians want Badnarik to be elected president, they don't expect him to be and hope his visit will help local libertarian candidates.

"The hatred toward Bush will probably help Kerry grab a lot of the liberal libertarian vote this election," Kalafut said. Others, he said, mainly fiscally liberal libertarians, might vote for Bush.

Kalafut, who is running for County Supervisor of District 3, said a leader from a national libertarian public interest law firm will speak in the fall semester, though a date has not been set.

Morgan McCaul, an entering music freshman who was protesting Cheney's visit on Saturday, said he's not sure if either Bush or Kerry is worth voting for.

"I'm not sure whether or not I'm going to vote," he said. "I'm not partial to either candidate."

Danielle Corbett, the Rock the Vote street team coordinator for Tucson who oversees campus activities, said she wants to change that attitude and get more young people out to vote.

RTV is working with ASUA to get a poll on campus to make voting more convenient for students, Corbett said. The two organizations are also putting together a Rock the Vote concert on campus, where students with voter registration cards would get in for free.

"We're doing a lot of fun things to engage the non-political students," Corbett said. "Studies have shown that once students get involved in the process, once they register and go to the polls for the first time to vote, they keep going throughout their lives."

Corbett said voting should also be important to students because "whatever happens in these elections will affect students in the future, when they go out and get a job."

But Hinsdale of the College Republicans said she worries that the MTV Rock the Vote campaign could be encouraging students to vote blindly.

"It's important to be informed about an issue because when you're informed about the issues, you also understand that your vote counts for something," Hinsdale said.

Corbett also said she thought a thorough understanding of what's at stake is important.

"We want people to understand the issues as opposed to something superficial like how pretty Edwards is," she said.