Yalies gear up for national political campaigns

With the local elections over and the 2000 presidential elections less than a year away, the Yale campus is already being bombarded with propaganda from both the left and the right of the political spectrum. Students affiliated with national candidates and political parties are galvanizing efforts to sway the large number of Yale and New Haven voters to their respective political camps and to commit their votes to the upcoming national elections.

JESSICA DIMSON/YH The Yale College Democrats (shown here), along with other politically active groups, have turned their attention to Campaign 2000.

According to Robert Smuts, SM '01, the Yale College Democrats registrar of voters, his organization is endorsing neither former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley nor Vice President Al Gore. Instead, Smuts said his group is mounting an effort with the cooperation of both campaigns to get out the student vote in the Democratic primaries. "We're working with both [the Gore and Bradley campaigns] to channel interested students to work for either candidate, under the assumption that competition is healthy for our party nationally and on campus," he said.

Likewise, the Yale College Republicans are focusing their efforts on the agenda of the Republican party in general, rather than on one particular candidate. "The Yale College Republicans are part of the College Republicans National Committee, which is associated with the National Republican Committee," Julie Simmons, MC '00, co-coordinator of the Yale College Republicans, said. "We can't endorse a candidate until the national committee does. At this point, we're just trying to get out and meet people and learn about the candidates."

However, despite the official stances of both campus parties, there is some activity at Yale aimed at supporting individual candidates. Patrick Bumatay, ES '00, is leading a campaign called Yalies for George W. Bush [DC '68]. "We have a two-part mission," Bumatay said. "We want to become a big presence on campus in showing support for George W. Bush, and we are going to campaign to make sure he gets the nomination and wins the presidency." On Wed., Nov. 10, a group of Bush supporters drove to New Hampshire to attend Bush's official announcement of his filing for the New Hampshire primary.

Bumatay said he is surprised by the support he has gotten for his campaign from Yale students. "I was pretty surprised to see how strong our support is, given the liberal climate of Yale," he said. "Our plan is to have a lot of posters and signs around campus to show that it is okay to support George W. Bush here, and to make sure that the campus media covers the campaign fairly and well." According to Bumatay, Bush's campaign is getting a lot more support than Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign. "I think [Bush] is still respected here because of his message of inclusion and compassion," Bumatay said.

On the Democratic side, campaigns have formed on campus in support of both Bradley and Gore. According to Madhu Pocha, BK '01, coordinator of Students for Bradley, the group has grown to more than 160 members since it was first advertised just three weeks ago. Members from the group have already worked for Bradley in New Hampshire and in New Haven, and will be assisting at a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sun., Nov. 14. "Most students here are undecided, but most people I talk to are really interested in learning more about Bradley and have a positive perception of him," Pocha said. "I think people are really interested in him and are drawn to him because of his integrity and intelligence." Pocha added that Bradley's stances on racial harmony, gay rights, and all types of discrimination are appealing to the socially conscious Yale campus.

Students working for both parties are eager to prove how well their campus campaigns are doing. According to Bumatay, a recent canvas of Old Campus revealed a much higher than expected percentage of Bush supporters. On the other hand, of the 125 voter registration cards Smuts delivered to City Hall last week, 54 were for Democrats, eight for Republicans, and the rest—63 votes—for Independents.

Both parties will have the opportunity to show how successful their campaigns have been in the early spring, when they will co-sponsor a straw poll in which Yale students will have an opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice. "We want to do some sort of mock election, and then have supporters of each candidate speak about them," Simmons said. "A lot of people don't really understand the differences between candidates, and this would be a good opportunity to talk about them."

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