Students speak out about presidential race

Nearly two years remain until the next presidential inauguration, yet popular media outlets have been heavily focused on the upcoming primaries and caucuses.

Candidates themselves are gearing up early to hit the campaign trail, strategically mapping out their travel plans so they can visit states that will be key in securing their party's presidential nomination.

With seasoned veterans like Hillary Clinton and John McCain and the inexperienced but powerfully appealing Barack Obama either considering or already contending for the highest office in the land, the political landscape is heating up in anticipation of the 2008 presidential race.

The upcoming election draws special appeal in that it is the first election since 1924 to have neither an incumbent president nor vice president in the running.

Also, this race is expected to cost the two majority party candidates more than one billion dollars combined in campaign spending, according to the Washington Times. If this estimate holds true, it will more than double the combined spending of the 2000 election.

"As long as the Supreme Court continues to support its decision in Buckley vs. Valeo that campaign contributions are a form of free speech, the best remedy for this problem is considerably shortening the lengths of campaigns," said Richard Barke, an associate professor in the School of Public Policy.

Of course, in order to win a majority party nomination and run a campaign in the first place, candidates must navigate the tricky political waters of primaries and caucuses, the two ways that a state can nominate a party candidate for the presidency.

The difference is that while primaries are a direct election of a state's delegates to the National Convention held by each party to select a presidential candidate, caucuses determine those delegates in a comfy town hall setting. Modern town halls take the shape of huge, interactive conventions where members of a given party come together to hear speeches and ask questions.

The original purpose in using caucuses was to reduce the number of candidates running, based on the assumption that the voters could better familiarize themselves with and differentiate between two candidates than contend with many political faces and platforms.

However, the current system of caucuses and primaries has faced some opposition. Critics say that because caucuses and primaries are formed of smaller groups of state party voters that have more extreme ideals than average voters, political candidates are often forced to adopt more extreme positions on critical issues like abortion, health care and foreign policy to cater to these voters so they can win their party's presidential nomination.

"Our process endorses polarization, discourages those who straddle party lines and ultimately forces a man like John Kerry to go duck hunting a month before an election," said Andrew Rodrigues, a third-year Public Policy major.

Despite the criticisms, primaries and caucuses do not appear to be disappearing anytime soon, and the first ones of the presidential season-the Iowa caucus, scheduled for next Jan. 14, and the New Hampshire primary, scheduled for next Jan. 22-continue to attract heavy political campaigning and coverage.

Although college students are widely perceived to be politically apathetic, Daniel Shorr, a third-year Psychology major, spoke about the importance of following these primaries and caucuses.

"Primaries obviously influence who could potentially be our president. Therefore, if you care about who our president is, you should care about the primaries," Shorr said.

Shorr said that he would look for candidates who put education as a high priority in his or her platform.

"You want someone who has strong support for education at all levels. As students, we would all benefit from more money being poured into education," Shorr said.

Particular issues that Tech students are paying close attention to this primary/caucus season include lowering federal student loan interest rates and fair use of the internet.

Joey Kistler, a second-year Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering major, wants candidates to adopt raising graduate research grants as a platform.

"They should rotate which states have their primaries first so that occasionally presidential hopefuls have to weigh in on local Georgia issues like keeping the HOPE scholarship, rather than always trying to win in Iowa and New Hampshire," Kistler said.

There are two politicians from Georgia that are speculated to make a run for the White House in 2008. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has expressed serious interest in running for the Republican Party nomination. Former House Representative Cynthia McKinney from Georgia's fourth district has been rumored to be a candidate for the Green Party nomination.