Leaning to the left

Kayla Webley
2004-10-05
The Daily

It's hard to miss them; they're always around.

They're clad in "Lose Your Voting Virginity" shirts that have donkeys stamped on the back. They are the students handing out bumper stickers and pins, set up at a table that has become almost a permanent fixture on the HUB lawn.

Young Democrats, yes, that's what they are.

The average student may not realize that in the back of Young Democrat President Brendan Levy's car is a huge box full of Kerry gear large enough to hold a small person.

Campus may not be aware that the group members want their club to be much more socially orientated than politically focused -- or that many club members are involved solely because the issues they advocate affect them or their loved ones.

Democrats, yes, but there are much more than that.

The UW chapter of Young Democrats (YD) is in a current stage of frenzy. With less than a month left until election day, there is much to be done to assist with campaigns, support initiatives and remind people to vote in the hopes they will vote Democrat. With the start of a new school year, they must also find new members to add to the troops.

"A lot of what our group does is to try and create more of a social atmosphere," said senior Andy O'Connell, a member of YD. "It has lots of events and social-type gatherings so that there is more of a community that we can draw on to do the political work."

This past Thursday, YD members gathered together to watch the presidential debate armed with the necessary equipment for any political event: a handful of political catch phrases and some choice beverages. While the debate itself may have been political, the activity was purely social.

The group sat shoulder to shoulder, barely fitting in the room to view the projected screen. Shouts of joy rang out every time President George Bush fumbled his words or paused for what they deemed was too long. And, while the occasional political banter did ring out, the overall goal of friendship was omnipresent.

"We want to take people who would otherwise not necessarily 'go get 'em' and seek out those opportunities and create a community and a culture where they enjoy being around those kinds of events," said O'Connell. "I think the way to do that is to get them to know everybody else who is likeminded in terms of politics, and have a beer, have some chips, watch a movie, listen to a cool, funny speaker half the time and then half the time actually bear down and do some work."

And bear down and do work is exactly what they set out to accomplish. In preparing for the election, YD members barely have a day without activity. If there is no canvassing or phone banking planned, there is a need for people to table the HUB or to attend a political speech.

"We get people active on campus with all the different events that we do," said junior Ashleigh Flowers, YD communication director. "We do canvassing twice a week and we are usually doing phone banking for different candidates."

"Canvassing is a huge thing; if you go to someone's door and talk to them, they will be twice as likely to vote for your candidate because they have talked to you," she said.

All this work is in the midst of campaign season, which has caused some changes in the club. And a lot more work for Levy.

"In the campaign season ... everyone moves up a notch in their level of involvement. The people that weren't involved at all sign up," said Levy. "The people were signed up but not doing much, start doing work for the club. The people that were doing a lot of work for the club, go out and work for the campaigns."

Members say that there is a misconception to view them all as very liberal, political science majors.

"We have actually done a really good job of getting a lot of science majors, psychology majors, linguistics majors and things like that," said Sai Guha, YD events coordinator and UW senior. "The group is sort of half-and-half politically, too. Half are very liberal, and half are pretty moderate Democrats. There is a really good mix; that is probably the best part of the group because you never get too much of a one-sided argument, because we have the whole spectrum of liberalism."

The reason many people have become so active in the club is not because of their overwhelming love of Democrat ideals, but because these issues hit home and affect them personally.

O'Connell explained that his mother made him schedule a doctor's appointment, even though he is perfectly healthy, in order to get the most of the $750 she pays monthly for health care for a family of four.

New YD member, Tyler Dockins, became interested in the Democratic party after working against a conservative group in Arizona that directly affected his brother's disability.

"There was a conservative group that came in ... a lot of what happened was they were taking away rights for things that were necessary for my brother to be able to function. He would get specialized transportation to take him to speech therapy and they were trying to take away the programs that funded those activities that made him able to go to speech therapy," said Dockins, a freshman.

Because of that experience, Dockins now wants be involved with the YD because they share his common interests and ideals, he said, and he can rally people for his cause.