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Republicans watch as leader surges ahead of pack
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by Becky Vevea
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
University of Wisconsin College Republicans watched the Wisconsin primary results at the Nitty Gritty Tuesday night as part of their spring social.
The event was the only GOP primary event in Dane County, according to College Republican Chair Sara Mikolajczak, drawing in local Republicans as well as students.
Although Sen. John McCain appears to be the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, many College Republicans are “waiting for the dust to settle,” according to Students for McCain co-founder Mark Bednar.
“Our group is pretty much across the board,” said College Republicans Vice-Chair Mattie Duppler. Although College Republicans have not endorsed a candidate, they agreed that the main issues for this year’s election are the war, the economy and heath care.
Attendees admitted they were interested in the results of the Democratic race to see who the competition will be in the presidential election.
UW senior Matt Driessen said McCain will most likely get the GOP nod and will have a better chance defeating the Democratic candidate.
“It’s important for moderates to keep in mind that McCain is probably the right candidate for them because of all his bipartisan work.” Bednar said, mentioning McCain’s work with Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., on the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.
The College Republicans said they are a minority on campus and joked about the small number of people in attendance.
“Madison’s always said to be a very liberal campus, and I think that’s true in a lot of regards, but I like to believe the students here are open-minded enough to look at both sides and make a judgment call for themselves,” said Sol Grosskopf, a member of College Republicans and UW Students for Ron Paul.
Bill Richardson, former UW professor and member of the Republican Party of Dane County, said the College Republicans being the minority on a liberal campus is similar to the groups protesting during the Vietnam era on a conservative campus.
“The college crowd has gotten a lot more active in the last couple elections,” said UW alumnus Sam Johnson, Republican chair of Madison’s 48th district. “The College Republicans are very impressive. I wish they had this organization when I was a student, back in the day.”
Multiple televisions around the room aired results along with footage from Obama’s speech in Houston.
“I just don’t trust him,” Driessen said, adding that Obama is very charismatic.
Others commented on recent accusations from Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign that Obama recently plagiarized from a 2006 campaign speech by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
“Barack Obama has been in the Senate for fewer fingers than you have on your hand, and for McCain to have been in the Senate for 24 years, I mean, that kind of experience is just huge,” Bednar added.
Anonymous (February 20, 2008 @ 10:21am):
Matt Driesen, read a poll once in a while. Obama beats McCain in almost all of them, and will definitely win in November.
Iraq for 100 years? Hell no! Obama '08.
Anonymous (February 21, 2008 @ 1:07am):
College Republicans in Madison? What's next sliced bread?
- Germain E. Stemme
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