Political clubs promote candidates

Members of the College Republicans and College Democrats are planning events leading up to Election Day to get students more politically involved on campus.Ashley Nelson, president of the College Republicans and Clarksville, Tenn., sophomore, said the biggest event the clubs are participating in is the debate between College Republicans and College Democrats. The date will be announced after final arrangements are made

Erica Savin, president of the College Democrats and Oak Ridge, Tenn., junior, said both clubs are working with the Political Science Club to change the location of the debate from the Signal Mountain Room in the UC to the auditorium in the Fine Arts Center to accommodate more students.

Savin said they are also trying to change the time from 4:30 p.m. to a time in the evening when more students and faculty will be able to attend.

"We participated last year, so this is going to be our second time," Nelson said. "It is going to be a little bit more planned out this time."

Nelson said each club will have three representatives to answer questions on stage.

Savin said the College Democrats are holding auditions for their members to determine who will represent the group on stage.

The first set of questions will be predetermined and both clubs will agree to the questions and have them in advance of the debate, Nelson said. The second set will be pre-screened questions from the audience.

Savin said "[The debate] is really to inform the students about what is going on. It is [the final] part of a four-part series for the political science department."

Nelson said her club is planning to have a table set up outside the UC with information about Sen. John McCain.

"The information is just going to be on McCain with some basic information about platforms and what kind of stuff he wants to do," Nelson said.

Savin said the College Democrats have purchased a support packages from the Obama campaign which includes stickers, buttons, rally signs, bumper stickers, T-shirts and literature on Obama.

"We are going to be selling those at a table [next week] and we are also going to be distributing the literature and things," Savin said.

She said the literature will be free and the prices for the other items will be reasonable. Savin said the club plans to donate all of the money raised to the Obama campaign headquarters.

Nelson said the College Republicans will volunteer with the McCain campaign headquarters in Hamilton County. Club members will go door-to-door in neighborhoods and call people to remind them to vote.

Savin said the College Democrats have plans to volunteer with the Obama campaign headquarters in Hamilton County.

Savin said her club is in the process of making plans to transport people to polling locations on Election Day.

"Our first objective is to get people registered to vote and our second objective is to then get them there to the polls to vote," Savin said.

The College Republicans meet Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. in the Heritage room of the UC.

The College Democrats meet Thursdays at 4 p.m. and the location alternates between the Signal Mountain and Lookout Mountain rooms in the UC.