THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 29, 2004
NEWS
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Grassroots campaign enlists KU student
ment edu
BY LAURA FRANCOVIGLIA
francoviglia@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
In the last weeks before the presidential election, Chris Cardinal, Salina senior, will be working ensure that the final result — not just, the popular vote, as Al Gore did in 2000 — is in the democrats' favor this November.
Cardinal left for Michigan, a swing state, where he will be working in for the MoveOn Political Action Committee as a precinct director.
"It's one of the biggest grassroots campaigns ever," he said.
Cardinal said MoveOn hired more than 500 people to work in the 17 swing states before the November election. His goal is to gain at least 150 votes for Kerrv in each precinct.
"I have to make sure they go
blue rather than red," he said of the swing states.
Cardinal didn't know he would be working with MoveOn until one week before the fall semester started when a representative from the committee called.
"I never thought that I'd get the call." Cardinal said.
He said he got chills when the call came.
MoveOn contacted Cardinal because of his work as a campaign coordinator and director for Save the Children and as the fund director for the Texas Public Research Institute Group, he said. His work for the group earned him media coverage from ABC and National Public Radio. Cardinal said his office for the group was the best in the nation and superceded every goal set for it.
"It's a ridiculously hard job to do really well," said Kevin
McKenzie, Salina junior, who has known Cardinal since high school.
Cardinal is earning University credit for his work at MoveOn. He is also a holdover student senator, so his position will be vacant while he's away, but he will return to Student Senate and the University in the spring as a full-time student.
"Chris has 100 percent enthusiasm for everything he's ever done." Tyler Longpine, Hays senior, said.
Longpine, who has worked with Cardinal in Senate, said he was impressed by Cardinal's drive and passion for civic involvement.
Cardinal said the country would face serious consequences if its citizens re-elected Bush. He said the Bush administration's focus was too heavily on God, gays and guns.
"They want to divide the country," he said. "That's exactly what they're doing."
Cardinal said he believed the MoveOn Political Action Committee would impact the election in favor of the democrats. Cardinal said MoveOn's campaign was the most organized he had ever seen.
Cardinal said he was among the nation's top consumer action and human rights lobbyists and organizers.
"It's been amazing," he said. "I've been working with some of the most talented people I've ever worked with on campaigns."
"It's going to happen because of the amount of talent we have," he said. "Look for immediate results in all of the swing states."
Edited by Bill Cross
Chris Cardinal, Salina senior, is in Michigan working for MoveOn.org. Cardinal, a student senator, earns University credit while working to convince voters to choose Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in the Nov. 2 election.
Joshua Kendall/KANSAN
CAMPUS
KU Greens to take break rebuild leadership base
Members of the KU Greens will be focusing their efforts elsewhere during this year's election season because they lack strong leadership within the organization.
"A lot of our members who were carrying it graduated," said Sara Zafar, Wichita senior and co-coordinator of the KU Greens. "The rest of us weren't ready to take it on."
Zafar is also an opinion columnist for The University Daily Kansan.
She said the group was still a registered campus group and wanted to resume its normal level of activity by next semester. The KU Greens differ from other campus political groups such as the KU Young Democrats or the College Republicans, she said.
"It's more like a group of like minded individuals," she said.
"There was a lot of social awareness efforts and activism."
She said the group supported issues like fair trade and global awareness of environmental problems.
Jane Gibson, associate professor of anthropology and member of the Kaw Valley Greens, is the faculty adviser for the KU Greens.
"Every third party group is going to go through these phases," she said. "The KU Greens are busy with other things right now, but undoubtedly they'll be back."
She said the Green Party was an important part of American politics and had a lot to offer the political arena. She said the Green Party has been instrumental in discussing issues like energy, the environment and the economic system that the two major parties agree on.
"The presidential campaign of Ralph Nader has had an impact in bringing these issues to the floor," she said.
Andy Hyland
City commission announces next week is Homecoming Week for city
By STEPHANIE FARLEY
sfarley@kansan.com
KANSAN STAF WRITE
Mayor Mike Rundle proclaimed the week of Oct. 2-9 "University of Kansas Homecoming Week."
The week will kick off with the Spirit Sprint, a 5K run or walk that starts at the Burge Union.
The week ends with a home football home game against Kansas State University, Bill Cosby and Bill Rancie, winner of The Apprentice, will make guest appearances during the week.
The 15-person Homecoming Steering Committee has been planning homecoming week
since the end of last January.
Amanda Akard, community events and service chair for the committee, said planning homecoming had opened her eyes to how much work it took to plan a week-long event.
"We'd love for as many people to benefit as possible," Akard said.
Chris Kaufman, co-director for the committee, said he encouraged everyone to participate in at least one homecoming event during the week.
A request made by Louise's West, 1307 W. 7th St., passed last night on the city commission's consent agenda.
Paula Mather submitted the request to the city for Larry
Hogan and Don McClure,
owners of Louise's West.
The week will kick off with the Spirit Sprint, a 5k run or walk that starts at the Burge Union. The week ends with a home football game against Kansas State University
The request was for a wood fence, about eight feet high, to be installed on the grassy area east of the building.
The fence would provide a safe area for people to smoke
outside.
Louise's West has two exits out of the building, one is through the north front door and the second is through the east side, which leads to the grassy lot, of the building.
The majority of people exit out of the front door and onto a sidewalk, which measures 4 by 20 feet. The area fills quickly during busy nights and people are spilling out unsafely into the street and parking lot.
The fenced-in area would measure 25 by 26 feet and would handle the heavy traffic flow of people.
— Edited by Steve Vockrodt
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