With the 2008 Democrat presidential candidates drawing in swarms of student support, the UW-Madison College Republicans say they will not let their voices fade out and plan to launch candidate campaigns this month.
As of Wednesday, no student groups supporting specific Republican candidates had been formed, but several will be presented at the next College Republicans meeting Sept. 25, according to Sara Mikolajczak, chairman of UW-Madison College Republicans.
Each group will have two or three minutes to present themselves and announce which candidates they will support and why they support them,"" Mikolajczak said. ""They'll announce their kickoff dates and how interested students can become involved.""
UW-Madison students can expect to see groups supporting Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Ron Paul, Fred Thompson and possibly John McCain, according to Mikolajczak.
Mikolajczak said the groups would give a forum for those students who do not voice the ""majority"" opinion on campus.
""Just because we are in the minority doesn't mean that we don't have strong opinions and don't deserve to voice them,"" Mikolajczak said.
Even in the absence of organized student groups for each candidate, Republican students on campus are already vocalizing their views on 2008 candidates. Nick Koeppen, a UW-Madison sophomore and College Republicans member, said he is looking for candidates similar to Ronald Reagan.
""Thompson seems like the most unifying candidate, and with the right support behind him, [he] would be a good Reaganite candidate,"" according to Koeppen.
Koeppen said he is not sure if he would join a student group for Fred Thompson yet. He said he still wants to learn more about the other candidates and their stances on issues.
Charles Franklin, a UW-Madison political science professor, said the lack of candidates similar to Reagan may be hurting Republican enthusiasm.
""Giuliani, McCain and Romney don't look like Reagan candidates. They aren't very concerned with moral issues and aren't very strong Reagan conservatives,"" Franklin said.
Young voters may also be driven away from the Republican Party because of national political issues, according to Franklin. This trend may correspond with Democrats becoming more energized by the low approval ratings of President Bush, Franklin said.
""So much of the last six years has been a reaction to the Bush administration,"" Franklin said.
To see what issues will matter to students in the 2008 election, Franklin said merely look at the general public, Franklin. Students, Republican and Democrat, care about the same issues as the rest of the country, according to Franklin.
""The country is concerned with the war, the students are concerned with the war,"" he said.
Mikolajczak similarly said the Iraq War, as well as health care, will be important issues to student voters in 2008.
