Small turnout talks politics in Dunn Meadow

Roughly two dozen people gathered just before 4:30 p.m. Monday in the middle of Dunn Meadow to show communal support for Todd Young.
Young, the Republican candidate for the 9th Congressional District, attended a debate with the other candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives seat several hours later that evening.
As people approached the group, they joined in the playful conversation which could only be described as political small talk.
“How’s the hope-y, change-y thing working out for you?,” a woman participant asked.  
The event was organized by the IU College Republicans and was promoted and supported by Young on his Facebook page in the days leading up to the event.
“I think this is a good turnout,” said junior and internal vice president of IU College Republicans Jeff Cummins. “We’ve got a good mixture of students and people from the community, and that’s what we like to have.”
Most of the people in attendance were IU students affiliated with the IU College Republicans. Some had come out of curiosity, wondering what a Congressional debate would be like.
“I’ve never been to a debate before and I thought it sounded like it would be interesting,” said junior Aaron Hemmerlein, a member of the IU College Republicans.
But there were also other members of the community at the gathering. Among them was Bloomington resident Naomi Knirk who showed strong support not only for Young, but also for the efforts of the IU College Republicans.
“We’re very proud of you,” she said to Cummins.
Despite Young’s promotion of the rally and many attendees’ expectation that he would make an appearance, he was not at the event. Instead, Cummins and Justin Kingsolver, president of the College Republicans and Indiana Daily Student columnist, spoke informally about the organization to pump up the small group of people for the upcoming debate.
But Cummins said showing the community that there are college students interested and active in political movements was a primary goal of the rally.