HEATHER FAULAND/Arizona Daily Wildcat Jonna Lopez, left, a women's studies senior, and Rock the Vote street team coordinator Danielle Corbett react to a Democratic presidential candidate debate on TV at Fat Tuesdays last week.

Two new UA students clubs have formed to remove President Bush from power in November 2004, but first they must face off with each other.

Students for Edwards and Generation Dean both became official UA clubs in November to support the Democratic primary campaigns of Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean.

"Groups like ours have formed because of the political climate we are in, with the war in Iraq and the general attitude in this country. Students are extremely engaged in and concerned about these issues," said Jeremy Tor, founder of Students for Edwards.

Generation Dean founder Jonna Lopez said that Republican President George W. Bush more than anyone has prompted students to get involved in the upcoming presidential election.

"I think students on campus are hungry for an alternative to Republican politics as usual. Bush has failed miserably, particularly with the war in Iraq," Lopez said. "Much like Vietnam, students are willing to work hard to defeat a president that is carelessly costing the lives of the people of our generation."

Although the presidential election will become more and more of a political eruption as November nears, the Democratic primary campaigns have themselves amounted to a ferocious battle. Nine candidates remain in the race, including front-runners Dean, Edwards, Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, and retired General Wesley Clark.

Arizona's primary date this year has moved up to Feb. 3, after the closely watched Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary. Also, because of Arizona's demographics, it is considered by many to be the first state whose primary results will foreshadow the national outcome.

"Once next semester starts, things will really pick up. We'll have just one month of campaigning before the primary," Tor said, who spent last summer as an intern in Edwards' New Hampshire campaign office.

Tor said his group, which has 10 members, will be speaking to students and distributing pamphlets more and more as the primary date approaches.

Similarly, the more than 20 members of Generation Dean will be getting the word out about their candidate and registering voters.

"The majority of all our campaign work is to be visible and talk to people about why it is important to be involved and why it is important to support Dean," Lopez said.

Yet both Tor and Lopez agree that removing Bush from the White House is the biggest priority.

"No matter who wins the nomination, it is important that we all band together and defeat Bush in 2004," Lopez said.

Not to be outdone, a Students for Bush club is already in the works. The club will be a separate entity from the College Republicans.

"We should be officially formed in the next week or so," said Pete Seat, president of both the College Republicans and Students for Bush. "It's going to have the same organizational structure as the College Republicans, but it will be under a much larger umbrella. We're looking at having 1,200 chapters nationwide."

Students for Bush treasurer Scott Weller said that the club will be in full swing by the time a Democratic contender emerges.

"We'll just let the Democrats beat each other to a bloody pulp, and then ride off into the sunset," Weller said. "Once we know who the Democratic candidate will be, our campaigning will become much more specific."

Seat predicts Howard Dean will be chosen as the Democratic nominee for president, which he says will be good for the Republicans.

"Obviously Dean is the frontrunner, it looks like it's going to be him. But if you look at the polls, Dean is the candidate most easily beaten by Bush," Seat said. "If the Democrats were looking for their best candidate, they would go with Kerry, Clark, or Edwards."