Kruzan: Democrat pushes importance of city's growth

Today marks the date Mark Kruzan has had on his calendar for months. At 6 p.m. tonight, as the polls close, Bloomington's Democratic mayoral candidate and his campaign team will be anxiously awaiting the election results.\nKruzan said he will spend Election Day "going around and thanking all the volunteers who put in months of hard work, and obviously thanking the voters one last time."\nIn the days leading up to the election, Kruzan and his campaign team have been hard at work trying to get their message out to more voters.\n"We're just setting out to make the best use of the time there is," Kruzan said. "The campaign doesn't stop until 6 p.m. on Election Day. We're continuing to communicate through mailings, going door to door and getting yard signs replaced."\nBut Kruzan said although he's been busy, he feels the team paced itself throughout the campaign, and now it's mostly a matter of waiting.\n"Its funny," Kruzan said. "Things have gotten far busier, and every hour counts. But at the same time, it feels like the campaign has gone into slow motion."\nDespite that fact, Kruzan's anxiety will be understandably high today as he waits for the final tally. \n"Measuring support is one thing, but it's impossible to measure turnout," Kruzan said. "I'm very encouraged by the support the voters are expressing for my campaign, but what really matters is that people actually get out and cast that vote."\nHowever, Kruzan's nerves may be a bit less fried than one might expect. He said months of hard work have paid off, and he is content with the way he has run his campaign.\n"I feel we've done everything we've set out to do, and that's a very encouraging feeling going into an election," Kruzan said. "It doesn't guarantee success, but it does guarantee one thing -- that you won't regret how you've run your campaign."\nKruzan said his confidence stems from his belief in the strength of his campaign issues, which he has built around three main areas all related to growth within Bloomington. He said that, if elected mayor, he will work to shrink the growing income gap, develop economic growth and plan for the increase in physical growth in Bloomington. \n"I do think these are the three challenges facing Bloomington," he said. "I really view it not as three different topics, but as three parts of the same circle."\nKruzan said IU students played a huge role in getting this message out to the Bloomington community. He stressed the importance of student interns in the strength and development of his campaign. \nOany Hasan, a recent IU graduate and campaign intern since May, said he has been involved in very diverse aspects of Kruzan's campaign, including the development of Kruzan's campaign Web site. \n"There have been so many different parts of the campaign that we've been working on," Hasan said. "We started the yard sign project from scratch and it was a lot of work. But now when I drive by and see yard signs, I think 'Yeah, I was part of that.' I also created the Web site and I now maintain it as well."\nSenior Adeela Hussain, who has been a campaign intern since May, said working on this campaign with Kruzan has been a great experience for her.\n"Mark has become part of my Bloomington family, and I don't know many people who can say that about the person they're working for," Hussain said. "It's not like we're supporting some guy who's our boss. You don't feel like you're working for him -- it's so much more intimate than that. It really feels like a partnership."\nAs the votes are being tallied tonight, Kruzan will gather with his campaign team and other members of the Democratic Party, all awaiting the results of the six spots voted on today. But Kruzan said, win or lose, he is proud of the way he conducted his campaign.\n"It's almost disconcerting to think how well things have gone in terms of our plan," Kruzan said. "Whether it's the right plan or not, the voters will let us know."\n-- Contact staff writer Sarah Schwimmer at sschwimm@indiana.edu.