Clubs push parties, not people, before primaries

As primary elections approach, the IU campus is chalk-free. No one is scrawling candidate endorsment messages on the sidewalks; no one is pushing flyers into students’ hands.\nWhile the IU College Democrats and Republicans continue to meet and discuss election issues, they remain fairly inactive during some of the most politically charged months of the year.\nBoth organizations cannot single out and endorse one candidate before the primaries, said T.J. Wallace, chairman of the Indiana Federation of College Republicans. Because both organizations are coalitions of students that support a variety of candidates, groups wait until after the nominees are selected to show their support. \nHowever, many students elect to join campus groups focused on supporting a single candidate, such as Students for Barack Obama.\nTim Granholm, a senior and IU Students for Barack Obama coordinator, said the group has made four out-of-state trips to campaign for the Illinois senator. Before the Iowa primary, Granholm went door to door in different parts of Iowa to inform residents about Obama.\nHe said a group of student supporters is also planning a trip to St. Louis this weekend to help campaign for Missouri’s Feb. 5 primary.\n“If we go, it will be two days before the primary,” Granholm said. “It will be exciting to feel the energy and feel like you’re being part of history.”\nWallace has also made a trip to Iowa and made phone calls on behalf of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. After hearing Huckabee speak at a convention in Washington, DC., Wallace e-mailed the campaign offering to help rally students in Indiana.\n“I think that the candidate with the largest student group will win,” Wallace said. “Candidates need energy and time, and that’s something students have.”\nResults from the Iowa caucus illustrate that college-age students can have an impact on who will win the election.\nAccording to a press release from Rock The Vote, a non-profit organization aimed at engaging young voters in the political process, 22 percent of Democratic caucus-goers were 17 to 29 years old. This is a 5 percent increase from 2004. Similarly, among Republicans, 10 percent of people at the Iowa caucus were 17 to 29 years old. \n“Students can absolutely make a difference if you can get them excited about a candidate,” said Megan Bartholomew, internal vice-chair of College Republicans. “Students are a huge chunk of the population and they will take the election one way or another.”\nHowever, by the time Indiana students have the opportunity to vote in a primary election, the nominees might already be determined.\nIndiana’s primary, scheduled for May 6, is one of the last. This late date, coupled with confusion over absentee voting or political apathy, could cause students to not vote at all, said Anna Strand, president of College Democrats.\nBoth student groups are focusing on registering voters and hosting information events at club meetings.\n“I want to do programming because there’s a lot of misinformation,” Strand said. “Students don’t know how to vote absentee or how to register in Indiana. We are just getting out the idea of why you should vote and why you should vote Democrat.”\nOfficers of both College Democrats and College Republicans said it is hard to encourage students, many of whom are registered in different states, to vote in a primary. Strand said they will have a big push in the fall of 2008 to register students and campaign for candidates. \n“It’s important to vote and exercise the right that people fought for,” said Andrew Hahn, political vice president of College Democrats. “Students need to be more involved in their democracy. In an important election cycle, college students standing up as a whole can make a difference.”