A local political effort shows proof that the 2004 presidential election is beginning to heat up on the University of Wisconsin campus, with three UW students devoting long hours every day to selling merchandise bashing President George W. Bush.
Cody Pyfer, Derek Grenfell and Robert Kirchmer, all UW freshmen living in Kronshage Residential Hall, have begun selling merchandise bearing the slogan ‘Lick Bush in 2004’ to passers-by in Library Mall.
“We are definitely out here to spread the anti-Bush word,” Pyfer said. “We feel it is time for the change in the White House.”
The three students, who have sold more than two-dozen shirts since they began selling a week ago, said they have received an overwhelmingly positive response about their merchandise. They said people walking by signal their agreement with the anti-Bush message by giving a thumbs-up or a smile. Not out to support any particular opponent to Bush, Pyfer indicated the intention of selling the shirts and hats is to further engage students in politics.
“We hope to get more people voting and get more people involved on the political scene,” Pyfer said. “We are just trying to make it happen in November at the polls.”
Jessi Schober, vice-chair of Students for Bush, said that tactics such as negative attacks used by liberals are “inappropriate” and will not appeal to or persuade students who care about the substantive issues of the campaign.
“I think the liberals who are going to vote for Kerry anyway are going to buy the shirts … [but] I am personally disgusted by shirts like that.”
Both Democrats and Republicans intend to target young people in the state for the 2004 presidential election, in order to capture the often-untapped power of the student vote.
“We are going to make a point of making our presence known on campus,” Schober said.
The Bush campaign launched “March Madness” events to sign up volunteers to help elect Bush this fall. Kerry has been focusing on the 18- to 24-year-old demographic as well, using a college tour to discuss issues that young people care about most, like financing for education and the war in Iraq.
“Young people have this enormous power, and they really have to understand it and embrace it and use it,” Kerry said during a conference call with college reporters last week.
The biggest difficulty on both sides, however, will not be convincing students to vote for one candidate over the other, but rather to get them to the polls at all. Only about 32 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 voted in the 2000 presidential election.
The Associated Students of Madison recently kicked off a Vote 2004 campaign to register young voters. The initiative hopes to register 17,000 students to vote by the time Nov. 2 election-day rolls around.
The presidential contest in Wisconsin is expected to be exceedingly close this fall as Wisconsin, which has traditionally been a swing state, is one of the key races that either side could win. Although Gore won Wisconsin in the 2000 election, Bush only lost by about 6,000 votes — less than one vote per ward.
