(ERIN KILLINGER | The Miami Student)
The Miami University College Democrats and the Miami University College Republicans have weighed in on the year's biggest issues, their efforts to get out the vote and early predictions for next year's presidential election.
For both organizations, it is all about the issues in 2011.
Chelsea Kiene, the communications chair of the College Democrats, said her organization encourages Miami students and Oxford residents to vote no on all three state issues, with the biggest push for Issue 2.
"Issue 2, which I'm sure you've seen a lot about on YouTube commercials, deals with Senate Bill (SB) 5 and makes it illegal for nurses and other health care practitioners to demand more staffing in hospitals, so now what we are seeing is understaffing," Kiene said. "Then with emergency responders, firemen and policemen, it's a lot harder to negotiate for better equipment and better training. So voting ‘yes' would hurt a lot of the services we take for granted until we need them."
Kiene said college students should also be interested in voting no on Issue 3 because, according to her, this will allow young adults to stay on their parents' employer's health care plan until they are 26.
Meanwhile, Co-Chair of the College Republicans Briana Sakach said they advocate a "yes" vote on all three issues. Sakach said the organization is most adamant about Issues 2 and 3, looking at both from a much different angle.
"In regards to Issue 2, we believe that it is time for public sector employees to pay their fair share that private sector employees already do. It's time to lift that burden off of tax payers," Sakach said. "With Issue 3, we feel that health care has been in the hands of bureaucracies and that the decision for Americans to choose their health care plan should be left between them and their doctors."
Kiene said the College Democrats have made a big effort to get people to vote. From Oct. 31 to Nov. 4, the organization ran "Progressive Week," where each day they hand out a different sheet to students on issues. Monday, they handed out a flier designed to pitch one last time a "no" vote on Issues 1 through 3. Kiene said they have also grouped with other off-campus organizations. She feels her organization has made a better effort when compared to that of the College Republicans due to a focus on student interests.
"I think within their group, the College Republicans are very informed," Kiene said. "But I don't think they understand that a lot of students who aren't as big into politics don't necessarily understand why these issues are prevalent to them."
Sakach said the College Republicans have been phone banking to rally support for these issues multiple times a week, tallying up over 9,500 total calls, attending rallies and going door to door to talk with immediate residents, as well as those in the Cincinnati area. Next week, they are hoping to hand out fliers with information on their beliefs about the three issues. Sakach said the College Republicans have taken note of the efforts of the College Democrats.
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"We commend their political activism," Sakach said. "But we feel that the College Republicans have gone above and beyond to get the facts out there."
As for the 2012 presidential election, Kiene foresees an exciting race.
"I'm actually really interested to see who the GOP is going to nominate. I think it will be Mitt Romney, personally. Even though he hasn't been the front runner in basically any of the polls, he's been the most consistent presence all the way through. Everyone else seems to be having their 15 minutes of fame," Kiene said. "It's going to be a tough election for Obama. I think he stands a good chance of winning, but with the economy not really showing much of a change in the past three years, it's going to give him a tough time."
Members of the College Republicans recently met with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Sakach said the experience only reaffirmed her support of the candidate, predicting a GOP win in 2012.
"It was a great opportunity for us to say we support him and I was extremely impressed by him," Sakach said. "I think the majority of support in our group is behind Mitt Romney, but within our group there is a wide variety of support for different candidates. Americans are realizing that what Obama had promised in 2008 isn't coming into fruition and I think we have potential candidates that can beat him by a good margin."
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