Gubernatorial race preview disappointing
We were very disappointed with Jessica Peterson's piece in The Daily Cardinal concerning the race for governor (""Governor race gets early start,"" Nov. 5). As leaders of one of the student organizations here on campus in support of a gubernatorial candidate, we were dismayed at the fact that she did not mention any of the student groups in support of candidates other than Gov. Scott McCallum's. Did she mention that there is a Students for Doyle, a Students for Barrett or a Students for Falk? Did she even mention that State Sen. Gary George, D-Milwaukee, is one of the Democratic gubernatorial candidates? Did she mention the student group in support of the libertarian candidate Ed Thompson? The answer to these questions is a resounding ""no."" If she really wanted to show how heated this campaign is (and especially how students are playing an important role), she would have taken the time to see if these groups actually existed. She would have taken the time to see that there are several registered student organizations here on campus building large student volunteer bases, which are taking a very active part in this very intense gubernatorial campaign.
Rather, she provided a distorted view of the campaign, only mentioning the Barrett candidacy in a cursory remark about McCallum. There is absolutely no mention of George or Thompson. It seems that she thinks the only important candidates in this race are McCallum, Doyle and Falk. That is just plain wrong. Anyone who is familiar with this election knows that it is still a wide-open race for all of the candidates involved.
Lastly, we want to express a disappointment not necessarily in the article itself, but in the lack of corroboration Peterson sought in publishing others' comments. She wrote that, according to Jason Stephany, the College Democrats have been working to advocate all of the candidates. This may be true on a larger campaign level, but the fact is that they have not been working on the student level with our particular organization. Our RSO has received no support from the College Democrats (even though we advocate a Democratic candidate), and we feel it would have been best to clarify Stephany's statements prior to their publication. But, of course, there is no mention of our group's existence, so how could she have done such a thing?
We therefore request a more comprehensive and objective view of this crucial campaign. If the students want their voices to be heard by the governor, they will need to know about the various candidates. An informed student populace will be crucial for an informed student choice in the September primaries as well as the November general elections of 2002.
Students look to this paper for such objective information and we ask that you provide it.
