The Prospector (El Paso, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 10, 1983 Page: 6 of 12
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The Prospector, November 10, 1983 ■ Page 6
Politics: Groups gear up for big election
Registering voters
is major activity
BERKELEY, CA (CPS) — By all rights, Mike
Weintraub should be suffering a special kind of
hell
For Weintraub has the unlikely job of heading
the University of California-Berkeley chapter of the
College Republicans and finding some way to
organize a meaningful student vote for the
Republicans, even as the Democrats hold their na-
tional convention in nearby San Francisco.
But Weintraub is happy His group has money in
the bank, about 100 members signed up, a visible
on-campus campaign and reasonable hopes of
doubling his membership as he gears up for 1984
The Young Democrats chapter, meanwhile, can
muster 20 students on a good day. Is a little short
of money and worries about "constricting" people
if it tightens its organization's structure
So. around the country, the two mainstream stu-
dent political groups are preparing for the 1984
presidential campaign in this season of lining up
volunteers and registering voters.
"Our people are very excited and raring to go."
said Jack Abramoff, president of the College
Republicans National Committee In Washington,
DC
"The Democrats," he added, "are constantly
killing each other with internal strife "
While "strife" may be too strong a word, the
Young Democrats group does have to balance the
feelings of students who may like different
Democratic candidates
"George McGovern and Gary Hart are making
more of a play for students," pointed out Patti
Grogen, the Young Democrats' national president
None of the candidates is really monopolizing the
student vote, though. I'd have thought one of them
would have by now But there is no student can-
didate no one who has really touched the hearts
and minds of students across the nation "
At Berkeley for example Young Democrats
Vice President Ram Cogan is for Hart, but careful
1) avoids driving Mondale Glenn and other can
didate supporters away by calling his group ' non
partisan
I' you make it less formal," Cogan explained of
his group people will be less intimidated You
can still have a good time doing it."
The Republicans by contrast, are sometimes
too organized. Weintraub said While adding that
members can work for any candidate during the
primaries, Weintraub doesn't seem to doubt that
Reagan will be the Republican nominee
"We clearly have unity," Abramoff adds
The Republicans are spending their time until
the nominee is picked registering voters —
Abramoff hopes to sign up a million Republican
student voters by next November — and raising
money
The College Republicans at Berkeley charges
Its members $3.50 a year in dues, of which 75
cents goes to the state organization. It also has
run small-scale direct mail fund-raising cam-
paigns, has gotten donations from "prominent
local Republicans" and is selling knit shirts that
sport the Republican elephant at the breast, Wein-
traub said.
The Young Democrats charges its members 50
cents a meeting and gets 75 cents from the na-
tional Democratic organization for each'person it
gets to register as a Democrat, Cogan said
The Republican tactics clearly have been more
s iccesslui in signing up and keeping members
Grogen cla.med the Young Democrats have about
250 campus units nationwide, to which some 1.500
students belong. Abramoff said there are now
1.000 college Republican chapters, with some
125.000 members
"We're the only conservative political group on
campus." Weintraub explained, adding that
students, especially at Berkeley, have a wide
Local organizations plan mock election
By Ralph Zublate
Staff Writer
College Republicans and Young Democrats on
campus are in a period of relative calm before the
storm of the 1984 campaign
Luis Patino, president of the Young Democrats,
said he s looking at the possibility of a mock
presidential election on campus in the spring
We would have an all-out mock campaign We
could get to learn the campaign process better."
Patino said
"It s just been mentioned for now Everything
has to be worked out," he said
Patino said now the group is in the midst of fund
raising and registering voters for the elections
Mike Thompson, president of the College
Republicans, said his organization has been
assortment of liberal groups from which to
choose.
"Democrats," Cogan observed, "aren't usually
that politically enthusiastic anyway.”
But students have always been the volunteer
backbone of political campaigns, and Grogen said
he believes the level of student Interest in the cam-
paigns is still high.
"Students are always more (politically) active
than youths in general," she said.
"Student activism in the sense of volunt eerism
is higher than it probably has been since the '60s.
but people don't notice as much when we're not
getting tear gas thrown at us."
Neither Abramoff nor Grogen expects any sort
of major student uprising to start attracting tear
gas in the future.
Abramoff discounted the effects of last week's
massacre of some 200 Americans in Beirut and the
American invasion of Grenada
"Just about everyone supports what we re doing
in Lebanon," he said "The Grenada thing . well,
clearly the left will activate itself and whoop and
holler. But I don't think you'll find any Vietnam War
hysteria."
Grogen Is more circumspect "Right now. (those
events) are so far removed No one really knows
what to think about them yet. I don't know how
they might affect the campaign."
primarily concerned with recruiting more
members
"We basically help the party by recruiting,”
Thompson said "That's pretty much it."
The College Republicans are bringing In
Republican senatorial candidates such as Phil
Gramm to talk to students about campaign
issues
Thompson said there is little activity for both
student political groups because the campaign is
just under way
"The election's just starting up, so there s a lot
of talk," he said
Thompson said he strongly feels Republicans
will get the most votes in the state
"Texas is a conservative state. " Thompson said
There's not a doubt In my mind we'll carry
Texas "
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University of Texas at El Paso. The Prospector (El Paso, Tex.), Vol. 69, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 10, 1983, newspaper, November 10, 1983; El Paso, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1625915/m1/6/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas at El Paso.