With little under a year until the 2012 presidential election, student political groups on campus are ramping up their efforts to involve undergraduates in the battle for the White House. As the College Democrats attempt to organize a sound re-election campaign for President Barack Obama, the College Republicans are planning strategies for increasing student participation in upcoming primaries.
With New Hampshire's Republican presidential primary scheduled for Jan. 10, the College Republicans are striving to raise awareness of political issues, according the group's treasurer, Austin Major '14.
"This is a big season for Republicans, especially being where we are," Major said. "It's New Hampshire. It's primary season. For a lot of us it's hard to focus on anything else politically."
The College Republican National Committee, the national organization for campus College Republican chapters, is focused on winning back the youth vote, according to Alyssa Farah, the organization's communications director.
"We're recruiting record numbers of students," Farah said. "We've seen more students enroll in the College Republicans since the mid-term elections than we've ever seen in the past."
The College Democrats are dedicating themselves to Obama's re-election campaign, and the group aims to increase general voter turnout, according to College Democrats acting President Chelsea Stewart '12.
The College Libertarians have been inviting experts from political institutes to come to campus all term, College Libertarians President Joshua Schiefelbein '14 said. The group has invited former Gov. Gary Johnson, R-N.M., a Republican presidential candidate, to come to campus and talk with students next week, Schiefelbein said.
Representatives from all three parties cited the economy as the biggest political issue facing Dartmouth students, especially given the looming concerns as graduates enter the job market.
"The idea of jobs is really important because we are the ones that are going into the jobs market," Major said.
Farah said unemployment is a particularly important concern for young voters.
"Unemployment is almost two times as high as the national average for recent college grads and the 18 to 22 age bracket," she said. "It's really going to come down to jobs, jobs, jobs."
While the College Republicans have not endorsed specific candidates for the Republican race, individual members of the group work for different political campaigns, Major said. Members of both the College Republicans and the College Democrats have assisted with phone banking and door-to-door campaigning in the Hanover area, according to Major and Stewart.
"We're really trying to get students filtered into the campaign that they want to go into," Major said. "A lot of the campaigns have contacted us because they need college students to work in New Hampshire."
The College Democrats and the College Republicans have planned a voter registration drive as well as a debate between the two groups, to be held before the end of the term, Major said.
Additionally, the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C., will send representatives to campus to lead a discussion about conservative politics and to discuss political internships, Major said.
Dartmouth's location in New Hampshire creates unique opportunities for campus College Republicans, Major said.
"I think we have a lot more opportunity just because of where we're located," Major said. "This is kind of a hard-fought area of the country politically, especially for Republicans. And I think that we have the opportunity to do a lot with that and we've done a pretty good job so far."
Although the College Republican National Committee will not endorse any Republican presidential candidates until after the primary, Farah said she "would like to see young people mobilize early on."
The College Democrats are opposing a New Hampshire bill that would redesign residency requirements for voting rights and prevent many college students from voting in elections where they go to school, according to Stewart. The bill, proposed by State Rep. David Bates, R-Rockingham, would require college students to claim residency in New Hampshire in order to vote.
"The bill is the most recent of a number of bills that have challenged whether college students should be allowed to vote," Stewart said. "Obviously we think that we should, so that's something that we're going to be working on."
As the 2012 presidential election approaches, the College Democrats will "ramp up the awareness campaign" in addition to continuing its practice of inviting guest speakers to campus, Stewart said.
"Dartmouth students are always pretty politically aware and politically active," Stewart said. "I have pretty high expectations for students in terms of getting involved and getting out to vote."
Although the College Libertarians do not have ay official canvassing or phone-banking efforts planned, Schiefelbein said he would be open to implementing such activities in the future.
Kenzi Green, director of communications for College Democrats of America, was unavailable for comment by press time.
