UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, November 5, 1996
5A
DOLE
Continued from Page 1A
Dole addresses a crowd at Barney Aizza Plaza in Kansas City, MO. I want to wel- you to the BILL Clinton retirement party right here in Kansas City™ Dole shouted
"Polls are not trustworthy," said Aaron Akins, Olathe freshman and member of College Republicans.
"I think it is an unfortunate comment on our society that someone as qualified as Bob Dole has been slighted over his age and his general presence," he said. "I think that Bob Dole was an excellent choice to run for the presidency."
Geoff Krieger / KANSAN
Takin' Care of Business?
"He is at a disadvantage because he isn't an elquent speaker," she said. But she added, "I don't want my president to be a used car salesman."
Maggie Wilson, Lawrence sophomore and events chairwoman of College Republicans, agreed with Akins.
On Oct. 14, Dole walked onto a stage at Kansas City's Barnley Allis Plaza, while Emerson Lake and Palmer's super-hit, "Takin' Care of Business" blared out of the loudspeakers.
"I want to welcome you to the Bill Clinton retirement party right here in Kansas City!" Dole shouted to a screaming crowd.
The speech was filled with the usual slams on Democrats: that they were being controlled by labor bosses, that they wanted to send taxes skyhigh and that the Hollywood elite controlled Clinton's campaign.
The audience was largely white. Most had gray hair. Mixed among them were a few packs of young people representing their college and high school organizations. College Republicans from KU weren't among them.
Why wouldn't the group turn out in droves to see their candidate speak only 40 miles away?
to the crowd during the Oct. 14 rally. Despite the show of support from many Kansas and Missouri voters, Dole has not had a very visible campaign at the University.
Kauffman said that school was a higher priority for the group than seeing Dole speak.
"The bottom line is that we're here to go to school and get our grades up," he said. "We're not at KU to slack off on our classes to see Bob Dole give the same speech."
Bowman agreed.
"I would miss class to vote if I had to," she said. "I would miss class to sit at an information table informing students."
But, she said, she wouldn't miss class to see Dole speak because it wouldn't make a difference in the outcome of the campaign.
On campus, College Republicans campaigning for Dole have followed the script.
Singing to the Choir
Wilson said that since Dole already had Kansas locked up as an electoral state, campaigning for him on a Kansas campus wasn't as important as supporting him in other states.
"There hasn't been any push by the Dole campaign to get the same push as Missouri and California and other states," she said. "They have to focus on the states that they think are hardest."
Wilson also said that congressional races in Kansas have taken more precedence than the national election.
"Local campaigns have taken up a lot more of our
time."she said.
Amanda Landes, Buena Park, Calif., senior, and fund-raising chairwoman of College Republicans, said there wasn't a reason to campaign for Dole on campus because he didn't have competition in the state.
Earen Rast, Parsons freshman and vice chairman of KU Democrats, agreed that Kansas was a sure win for Dole, although he said that winning Kansas wouldn't be decisive in the election since the state is worth only six electoral college votes.
"He's probably not going to win it as much as he probably did in past years when he's run for president," Rast said. "But, yeah. He's going to win it."
And if there is any truth to the polls, Rast is right.
And if there is any truth to the polls, Rast is right. A poll conducted by the Kansas City Star last week showed that Dole had 49 percent of the possible Kansas votes, and Clinton had only 39 percent.
"It's just naturally assumed that Kansas is just going to be taken care of," Landes said.
Republicans at Kansas State University look at
campaigning for Dole in the same light.
"We've had registration tables in the Union and speakers, but we really haven't been out campaigning for Dole per se," said Karen Ruckert, chairwoman of K-State's Republican organization. "There's really not a reason."
Ruckert said that her group had even stopped handing out Dole-Kemp bumper stickers because the organization didn't want to hand out stickers to students who were going to vote for Dole anyway.
John Watkins, 3rd District chairman of the Republican Party, also said that College Republicans should have been concentrating more on the Congressional races rather than on presidential politics.
"A Dole sign in California is worth more to us than a Dole sign in Kansas," he said. "I think it's more rational to put up a Dole sign where we're not singing to the chair."
Geoff Krieger / KANSAN
This display booth on the third floor of the Kansas Union was put together by the College Republicans. The group has campaigned for Republicans on the state level, but it has not done much campaigning for Bob Dole.
Many minority students consider Clinton lesser of two evils
For students of color, candidates' stance on race is important
By Nicholas C. Charalambous
Kansan staff writer
speeches.
Students agree that minority issues have been ignored or used as wedge issues in the 1996 presidential campaign.
Many minority students say they will vote for President Bill Clinton — but without enthusiasm. The Republican and Democratic parties differ on education, affirmative action, immigration and English Only laws. Students also say that candidates Bob Dole and Clinton have paid only lip service to these issues in debates and
Many minority students will base their votes on the traditional loyalties of each party, or they will take what the candidates have said about an issue and try to predict which policies the candidates will promote if elected.
Historically, the Democratic party has opposed cuts in social services and defended minority interests, said many students, including Nicolas Shump, Lawrence graduate student.
On the other hand, Bob Dole and the Republicans are waging a "culture war" on immigration, English Only laws and affirmative action, which threatens to divide the nation along the lines of race and class.
Several students see the election as a choice between the lesser of two evils.
Omari Miller, an African-American Lawrence senior, said he would have liked a more productive debate on affirmative action.
"There is a tendency to say that the playing field is level," he said. "But students of color know this is not true."
Miller said the Republican Congress had pushed Clinton to the right, and the president did not want to openly defend the future of affirmative action in a debate with
Bob Dole supports ending affirmative action. Bill Clinton prefers to "mend it, not end it," as he said in a campaign slogan.
Dole. Affirmative action has been used as a catch phrase to scare people, he said.
"Dole, along with a lot of GOP contenders, have really campaigned on fear and separation," Miller said.
Ericka Morris, Philadelphia sophomore, said she would vote Democratic because of the party's traditional stance on issues that affect African Americans.
"It's a more liberal party. There are more women and minorities involved in the Democratic party," Morris said.
The prospect of a Dole win?
"It scares me to death," Morris said. "You'll see a lot more urban decay, you'll see a large decline in ethnic enrollment at the college level, you'll see the number of minorities in high positions in business drop."
Angela Valdez, an Hispanic-American Kansas City, Kan., sophomore, said she didn't like Dole's position to slow immigration and introduce an English Only law that would make English the official language of the United States. It is just another form of racism, she said.
Shump said he didn't think either candidate was particularly sensitive to Hispanic issues and noted that Clinton supports an increase in the number of border patrols and INS agents. He also said that the United States' economy would be hurt, especially in the agricultural sector, if illegal immigration were stopped.
Khebi Suthiwan, an Asian-American Wichita junior, said she would vote for Clinton because he supported affirmative action, opposed the Republican position on immigration and wanted tax credits for
education.
"It's just Clinton opens up a lot more doors for minorities," Suthwan said. "With Bob Dole, it's everything for white society."
Elyse Towey, a Native-American Napa, Calif., junior, said she was not sure that her vote would be worth anything.
"We're overlooked as a minority," Towey said. "Very rarely do you hear the word 'Native American.'"
She said she had considered voting for Ralph Nader and the Green Party because his vice-presidential candidate was a Native-American woman. But she is swaying toward the Democrats because of their support for education.
She said that if affirmative action and educational programs like Head Start were wiped out, there would be even fewer Native Americans in higher education.
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