The great divide

With the fast approach of the upcoming election, the College Democrats of Syracuse University is turning its attention to something a bit more local: the race for the 25th Congressional District.

"We focus more on getting Democrats elected to congressional seats," said Kathryn Guess, events coordinator for SU's College Democrats. "We're not so much focused on Obama."

As Democrats hope to take back the White House after eight years, members of the College Democrats are not focusing their efforts on the presidential campaign.

Instead, Syracuse Students for Barack Obama, an independent group, is leading the presidential effort, and the separation is not entirely agreeable.

"We've had a lot of problems," said Sara Brainard, deputy director of Students for Barack Obama. "There's a lot of conflict because we're (affiliated) with Obama's national campaign. We were selected by the campaign to run the show here at Syracuse, but College Democrats has been around forever. They feel like we're on their territory."

Guess admitted to the division between the groups, but said it was because Obama will almost certainly win New York state.

"Currently, we're working on getting Dan Maffei elected because it's a closer call," Guess said of efforts to elect the Democratic congressional candidate. "New York is kind of a given state for Obama."

Though New York state often votes democratic in the presidential election, the two groups are not heavily collaborating their efforts. Not only are the groups run by different individuals, but there has not been much cooperation either, Brainard said.

On the other hand, campus Republican efforts are more unified, said Nicholas Johnson, president of College Republicans.

Johnson also heads the campaign for Sen. John McCain at SU. Johnson said the College Republicans will be handing out flyers and going door to door for both McCain and Republican congressional candidate Dale Sweetland, Maffei's opponent.

Though he heads both groups and plans to keep them closely involved, Johnson said he has reservations about keeping them entirely connected.

"Technically, they are connected," Johnson said. "But we're keeping them separate, because some people who want to support John McCain aren't Republicans."

But the Democratic student groups are kept separate for other reasons.

"We're trying to work with them, but they haven't been very receptive," Brainard said of the College Democrats. "We invite them to everything and ask them to collaborate, but there are kind of bad feelings."

Brainard said some of these feelings come as a result of Students for Barack Obama playing a part in the national campaign and not just operating as a campus organization. Brainard and Michael Short, the New York state field director of the national Students for Barack Obama organization, applied directly to Obama's national headquarters to lead the campus effort.

Students for Barack Obama has faced obstacles because of its independent status, Brainard said. Because it endorses a specific candidate, SU does not recognize it as a campus organization.

"We can't get tables in Schine or rooms for our meetings," Brainard said. "We have absolutely no money at all, but we've actually been able to prove ourselves to the national campaign, and they're giving us more help now that they've seen we can get a lot of people mobilized."

The College Democrats and the College Republicans are both trying to register voters, though a divide has been created between the two organizations and Students for Barack Obama.

"While we may have differences, we're both interested in making the country work," said Guess, of College Democrats. "I'd like to see (the College Democrats and Republicans) get together and make some efforts to get people involved in the election in general."

Caitlyn Schneeweiss, secretary of the College Republicans, said it's important that the groups focus on registering young voters.

"I think the youth vote is really being mobilized by this election," she said. "And I hope we're going to see a lot of people going to the polls, because just talking about the fact that you're excited about the election isn't the same as going in and voting."

arkuchin@syr.edu