Race for presidency begins
Evan Mclaughlin
The Daily Illini
Primary presidential elections won't be held until spring 2004, but many Democratic candidates have already entered their names for election.
John Kerry, Massachusetts senator, and Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, are just a few of the many Democratic primary presidential candidates. While some Republican primary presidential candidates have declared candidacy, no major names have signed up, and many Republicans think President George W. Bush will win the Republican vote in the primaries.
Members of College Democrats and College Republicans are already looking to the future.
Lauren Kidwell vice president of College Democrats, said there are a lot of good candidates, but it's hard to tell who will come out ahead.
"Personally, I think that Howard Dean and John Kerry are both great guys," Kidwell said. "I agree on most of their stances on issues — the big things that our country's facing right now."
Most Republicans are confident Bush will win the primaries, and win the final presidential election on Nov. 2, 2004, said Dan Bolin, executive director of College Republicans.
"There's a lot of people out there, but I think the president put forth a good enough record that he'll be able to run against anybody and win," Bolin said. "I'm thinking that President Bush has firmly secured the nomination."
Junior in LAS Erin Janulis, College Democrats voter registration chair, said primary elections are hard for the organization because they don't want to tell students who to vote for. Instead of choosing a candidate, they set up a voter registration drive around campus to get students to vote and pass around petitions for Democratic candidates because they want everyone to have a fair chance, she said.
"I think we're at the point in this country where there are a lot of tough decisions to make," Janulis said.
The state of the economy and a possible war with Iraq will be the most important issues for this election, said Kidwell and Nick Reitz, executive member of College Democrats.
"If we do go to war and it's this long, drawn-out war and we're not getting anywhere, then I think (Bush) will be very vulnerable," Reitz said.
Reitz said his pick at this point is Sen. John Edwards, D-North Carolina.
Kidwell said tax cuts have been affecting the economy in a negative way, and she hopes the Democrats can come into office and have "working families get money back in their pockets."
"I think these tax cuts that he's proposing ... are not going to stimulate the economy enough," she said.
Bolin said he isn't worried about "formidable candidates" in the opposition. Both Bolin and College Republicans president Victoria Cosentino said they weren't even aware of any candidates running against Bush.
"Joe Lieberman has name recognition at the very least, but it's hard to say who has the biggest chance," Bolin said about the Democratic candidates. "It's all a wash since the president's done such a good job."
Lieberman, a Democratic presidential candidate, ran alongside former Vice President Al Gore in the 2000 election.
Bush might face serious opposition from Kerry or Lieberman because of name recognition, Cosentino said. But she said she feels that Bush's chances are strong.
"I can see no reason why he wouldn't get the nomination," Cosentino said.
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