Congressional votes impact policy

The presidential election may be getting all the press this year, but Nov. 2 also brings voters important local elections.\n"Generally, both the general public and students don't pay much attention to Congressional elections," said Edward Carmines, a political science professor. "The presidential and even gubernatorial elections receive much more attention."\nWhen voters cast their ballots Election Day, it is in their best interests to know as much about all the candidates as possible. Monroe County is at the bottom of the 4th District in Indiana, where three candidates face off for election into the House of Representatives.\nDemocratic candidate David Sanders, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Purdue University, said he is uniquely qualified for Congress because of his background in biological science. He said many of the important issues Congress faces today, such as defense against biological weapons, weapons of mass destruction and stem cell research deal directly with subjects where he has had extensive training.\n"Unfortunately a lot of our congressmen don't have the ability to understand (these issues) on a firsthand basis," he said. "They have to rely on lobbyists to tell them what to think about the issues. I understand these things."\nSanders is running against Republican candidate Steve Buyer and Libertarian candidate Kevin Fleming.\nCarmines said it's important for voters to pay attention to Congressional elections because Congress is most often the place where policy is made, and many issues might have a direct effect on students, such as taxes, education funding and the war in Iraq.\nBoth Sanders and Buyer said they were against the possibility of reinstating the draft.\n"The only ones talking about the draft are Senator Kerry and Senator Edwards." Buyer said. "In fact, the sponsors of the recently defeated legislation are Democrats. They are simply using scare tactics to ignite a campaign fire. The Congress has spoken and there is no support for reinstating the draft."\nHowever, Buyer said he thought security, both national and economic, was the most important issue facing the 4th District.\n"I will continue to provide those who sacrifice to protect and defend this nation with the tools they need," Buyer said.\nSanders had a different idea of the issue that was most important to the district, saying he heard residents asking him more about health care than any other subject.\n"Are people interested in Iraq? I'm sure they are, but that isn't what they ask me when I travel around to county fairs or when I meet veterans," Sanders said. "They're interested in health care."\nSanders said he would like to bring universal access to affordable, high quality health care to residents.\nEven with their differences in policy, the candidates emphasized the importance of voting.\n"It is important for all Americans to take part in the electoral process," Buyer said. "The worst mistake anyone can make, including students, is to think that elections don't matter (or) that their vote doesn't count."\n-- Contact senior writer Kathleen Quilligan at kquillig@indiana.edu.