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Show 8 Wednesday, August 27,2008 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION www.dailyutahchronide.com Preferred Candidates in percentages of 1,435 University of Utah Students according to a Htnckley Institute straw poll, late 2007 Clinton Romney McCain continued from Page I sitioned to observe whatever political trends exist at the college level. A "perfect storm" Williams said she believes several important issues have come into play all at once and are driving students in record numbers to the Obama camp. "It's kind of a perfect storm of events and occurrences and circumstances," she said. "Of all demographics, young people are experiencing probably the greatest impact from the Iraq War, they are the most progressive on climate change and they really see this as a critical time in terms of the state of the economy with things like student debt, college affordability and jobs." As a result, Williams said interest in the presidential race among college students • would be going up regardless of the candidate, but that these students are directing a lot of their energy toward Obama because of his proposed solutions to all of the challenges and because he simply makes the most sense to them. "It's not just because of his youthfulness, although that definitely doesn't hurt," Williams said. "It's more that he's in touch with what young people care about, not because he's young but because his policy proposals actually address the issues they care about. And the cherry on top is definitely his tactics, like his extensive use of the Internet and social networking sites. He valued young voters earlier on in the campaign and more than any of the other candidates." Obama support at the U The. national trend appears to hold up at the U, even though the state as a whole is reliably Republican and hasn't gone for a Democrat for president in decades. A straw poll of 1435 U students conducted by the Hinckley Institute last fall as the primary season got underway showed Obama in a statistical tie with local favorite Mitt Romney, who would end up with 90 percent of the vote in Utah's Republican primary the following spring. Among women participating in the straw poll, Obama beat all contenders handily, includin; Hillary Clinton. Anyone in the state will be such as when Mitt Romney gave able to vote, even without a Utah a speech about his LDS faith, STAFF WRITER . address. ASUU is also pushing a and on Super Tuesday in FebStarting on Oct. 21, Utah resi- student voting registration drive ruary. Anywhere from 50 to 100 dents will able to cast their vote with booths and banners to en- students and faculty attend the on the U campus for the presi- courage and facilitate involve- parties, said Amanda Mecham, dential election before Election ment in the electoral process. a senior political science major Day. A room in the Union will be The drive will last until Oct. 6, who directs the ASUU Presentreserved for early voting booths. the mail-in deadline for voter er's Office. She said she's hopeful that more students will attend The former Associated Stu- registration. dents of the U's government College students are facing the •the' upcoming convention parrelations director Jordan Brcigh- "big, real hurdles in life," such ties since the election season has ner, along with his predecessor as high tuition and health care, uniquely drawn the attention of Marko Mijic and ASUU Presi- Mijic said. He suggested that so many young voters. dent Patrick Reimherr, coordi- students talk about the issues "Obama has a way of rallying nated the early voting. and get involved in the policies college age hype...and students A lack of convenient voting and processes that control them, have been fed up with Iraq and stations has been an obstacle noting that ASUU is organizing the economy," Mecham said. for larger student turnout in the events to give them an opportuASUU has also put together an past, said Andrew Jensen, the nity to do just that. event to educate students about current director of the ASUU In order to snowball voter ed- researching their political can- t government relations board. Br- ucation and enthusiasm for the didates. Peter Kraus, a Marriott \ ieghner and Mijic spent months election season, ASUU has or- Library political science librar-j talking with the Salt Lake Coun- ganized parties with the Hinck- ian, will give a lecture on Oct. 8 j ty Clerk's Office and the U to get ley Institute Student Alliance at noon about how to research* the voting stations on campus. to watch Obama and Sen. John candidates' positions on politi-» "Students will vote if they are McCain give their nomination cal issues and understand their 1 given the opportunity," Jensen speeches from their respective professional histories to become 1 j party conventions. The'Hinckley an educated voter. said. Jensen will oversee the early Institute's Democratic National Jensen said he hopes ASUUJ voting on campus. Originally, Convention party is Thursday, can organize the same voting J the responsibility was meant Aug. 28, and McCain's is a week stations and voter registration' for Breighner, who left the U to later on Sept. 4. The convention drives in 2011 for the mid-term 1 work on Sen. Barack Obama's parties will be held in the Hinck- elections, and continues to make 1 presidential campaign. Breigh- ley Caucus Room at 7 p.m. Free a habit of encouraging students 1 ner declined to comment about pizza will be served. to cast their ballots. j his involvement with the camThe institute has put on simim.mc/a/!@ j paign. lar viewing parties in the past, chronicle.utah.edu • Michael McFall Obama OBAMA Students can vote early Kate Mecham, a senior majoring in political science, said she still sees overwhelming support for Obama at the U now that the choices have been whittled down to two, with Romney no longer in the mix. "The U student population, in general, seems to be much more interested in this coming election," she said. "And I would say that's mainly due to Obama. He just sort of has a presence about him that I think appeals to the younger generation a lot, I'm a senior now, and the friends I made my freshman year just didn't care anything about politics. Now, if you ask them, they are watching everything and keeping track of what's going on." Mecham said she thinks a lot of it has to do with the charismatic way Obama delivers his speeches and the fact that he has mounted an effective effort to reach out to young people by tapping into the blogging and Internet cultures. The 2008 College Explorer report found that 88 percent of all students used so-called social media—things like MySpace, Facebook and YouTube—to gather information about the presidential candidates and that 85 percent of those who used the Internet were "promoters"—passing along the information they found to their large networks of social peers. As further proof of the energy and enthusiasm among U students for Obama, the official campaign Web site for the candidate has an "Activity Index" for each individual grassroots organizing group within the campaign. The index displays a number between one and 10 depending on the amount of activity taking place within that particular group. On the more broad-based "Utah for Obama" page, the index was at four as of last weekend. On the page for a group calling itself "University of Utah for Obama," the index sat at a perfect ten. Question of voter turnout So the big question still to be answered is whether or not they will actually go and vote this time around. The College Explorer report found that 92 percent of the students who were surveyed plan to vote in November, and Williams from Campus Progress said, without a doubt, this time they will get out and actually go to the polls. "It's going to be very different this time," she said. "There has been a steady increase over the years in the number of young people coming out to vote since about 2000. The 2008 election is going to be the pinnacle of that. There's been a lot of work put in to build an infrastructure that is ready to support young people turning out at the polls. I believe that ifs really going to happen-" &servatius@ chronicle.utah.edu PHOTO COURTESY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Chelsey Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton tour the site of the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Interns cover party conventions Keith Chalmers STAFF WRITER As the national conventions for the Democratic and Republican parties get underway over the next two weeks, millions of Americans will be watching it on TV. A handful of U students, however, will get front-row seats to both conventions, as part of a program facilitated by the Hinckley Institute of Politics, Shantou University in China and the Li Ka Shing Foundation, which is aimed toward engaging students in the political process through journalism. Kirk Jowers, director of the Hinckiey Institute, said it is critical that students and the community are involved in government and politics, and the program allows students to enter the political scene. U political science professor Robert Benedict said the national party conventions have a less significant role than they used to in the American democratic process, and are even being broadcast less to the public, noting that television coverage of the conventions will be limited to an hour and a half each night of the two conventions. "Increasingly people see them as marginal," Benedict said. "There is simply little reason for people to tune in. People are not going to pay a lot of attention." Political science professor Edward Epstein said American's apathy toward the conventions can be attributed to several factors. "Not only in our own country, but in places like Latin America there has been an increasing tendency to be skeptical about parties and party politicians," he said. "There has been an increasing growing distrust in the whole party system. Though people claim they are supportive of democratic process, there is a tendency to say that democracy is great, but our democracy in our country is not good." Epstein uses an anecdote, which he attributes to Mark Twain, to explain why people are skeptical about their domestic political system: "Today I am going to talk to you about liars, schemers, total rogues and politicians. Oh, I'm sorry I'm simply repeating myself aren't I?" Epstein said this sentiment is not brand new in the United States or anywhere else in the world. "There have been a lot \ of politicians that have not J been honest in what they have \ claimed," he said. • Although the majority of the : American public might not pay • much attention to the national! party conventions over the next! two wee"ks, five U students will \ be paying especially close atten- : tion. 1 These students from the > Hinckley Institute and seven • students from the Cheung Kong J School of Journalism at Shantou \ University in China are embark- [ ing on a political journey as they : travel throughout the United i States to cover the U.S. 20081 electoral process. 1 "The purpose of this under- \ taking is to create a global edu- J cational experience that brings j together a few of the finest stu-' dents from two major universi- < ties to cover the American polit-1 ical conventions this summer as! working journalists," wrote Jow-! ers in a letter to the Democratic 1 National Convention Committee J requesting credentials for the U" students to cover the event. * The students will be writing 1 articles and filming stories for I local and national media outlets, i their campus papers in Utah,! China and academic journals. j Jowers said one "meaning-l ful" reason the national party' conventions are still important I is because the American public J gets to see what face each party I wants to portray to the country. ! "I am a big believer that when j people are energized and en-* gaged in democracy that govern-' ment and politics works best,"* Jowers said. "But when people! become apathetic, special inter- • ests are always ready to fill that] vacuum and that is when they} can cause harm to our commu- * nity and nation." • ' k.chalmers@> chronicle.utah.edu |