With President Bush's hard-fought victory behind him, Dartmouth College Republicans President Jesse Roisin '05 now spends his days writing his thesis, catching up on sleep and, most importantly, relaxing.
Roisin's situation is a common one among Dartmouth's political organizations and their officers, who are now winding down and taking a much-needed break in the aftermath of the election.
During the election season both sides worked doggedly with field representatives from their respective organizations to coordinate high-visibility campus events, including voter registration drives.
But with no events to organize or supporters to rally to the polls, campus political organizations have geared down for the remainder of Fall term.
Neither the College Republicans nor the Young Democrats plan to hold any events during the rest of Fall term. Instead, they will focus on plans for Winter term while allowing members to take time off from politics.
Both Roisin and Young Democrats Treasurer Benjamin Taylor '07 said that while their organizations didn't have any concrete plans for the winter, both would be active.
"We have a ton of stuff planned this winter focused on policy and open discussion rather than politics and elections," Roisin said.
While this has given some a chance to relax, others have been busy catching up on the studying they neglected during the weeks leading up to Nov. 2.
"All the work I ignored pre-election is hitting me now. I can't rationalize it away by saying I was working on the election so I've been trying to catch up," Taylor said.
Torivio Fodder '05, New Hampshire College Republicans chairman, finds himself in the same position after having spent most of his time organizing chapters across the state in their effort to get out the Republican vote.
"I'm playing catch-up now because I spent so much time on the campaign," Fodder said.
Although he's relaxing now, Fodder plans to get in contact with other chapters this winter and keep up connections strengthened by the common goal of winning the election.
"Now that the election is over, we're getting back in touch with the chapters we started around the state. We're going to be deciding leadership positions in the spring," Fodder said.
He also noted the difference that the end of the election has made on his personal life.
"All the representatives from Students for Bush and College Republicans have left and there are no phone calls. It's kind of eerily quiet," said Fodder.
"My cell phone bill went from $293 down to, like, nothing."
