In the off-year between the 2010 midterm elections and next year’s presidential election, organizations representing both parties are working to ignite busy students by planning voter registration drives, volunteering with campaigns and hosting meetings to discuss the issues of the campaign.

 

“Getting young people involved in politics is one of the biggest challenges associated with a big political campaign,” said Rahul Sastry ‘13, vice president of the Stanford Democrats. “For a candidate like Obama, energizing the student vote will be a very important aspect in getting [Obama] re-elected.”

 

“[A] goal is to encourage everyone [at Stanford] to become active in politics, as university students are our country’s, and the world’s, future,” wrote Mary Ann Toman-Miller ‘14, president of the Stanford College Republicans, in an email to The Daily. “We need to act as a voice for our generation and remind Washington that our generation does not want to inherit an unsustainable economy.”

 

Toman-Miller is a Daily staffer.

 

A year away from the election, however, the Stanford Democrats still feel challenged by the unique dynamics of campus organizing.

 

“I wasn’t here in 2008 [for the last general election], so it was very interesting . . . trying to figure out how organizing on campus works,” said Lindsay Lamont ‘13, president of the Stanford Democrats. “We’ve been going about it in a two-pronged [manner], being the liberal base on campus . . . and working with the Obama for America campaign outside the Stanford community.”

 

Lamont says she understands the challenges in igniting enthusiasm on a college campus in a deep-blue state.

 

“Even if you feel that . . . California, as a whole, your vote may not have a voice, it doesn’t mean that you can’t have an influence elsewhere,” she said. “If we look to 2008, we [had] a huge influence on neighboring states.”

 

To increase involvement, both organizations are beginning to execute their plans for the election year with the final goal of building momentum and fostering a more politically active atmosphere on campus.

 

“I am planning to take a delegation of Stanford Republicans to the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida,” Toman-Miller said. “I will also take a delegation . . . to the California Republican Party state convention in February.”

 

The Stanford Democrats are taking a more community-based approach to their event planning.

 

“The big event . . . we’re looking to organize [is] a ‘Dress Like a Republican’ party on campus,” Lamont said. “That’s what we mean by having campus events that . . . drag the liberal base and get them pumped and excited. It’s the community-based stuff that keeps people volunteering and involved.”

 

Lamont laughed off a follow-up question pressing her on what “Dress Like a Republican” meant.

 

“You can take that as you like,” she said. “Favorite candidate impersonations, to presidential masks . . . as extreme [of a] stereotype as you want to go.”

 

The lightheartedness of the proposed events on the Democratic side contrasts with the more formal planning of the Stanford College Republicans.

 

“Our meetings feature speakers,” Toman-Miller said. “Our last speaker was Professor Evers from the Hoover Institute. Other prominent speakers . . . [like] House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy have offered to speak . . . in the new year.”

 

Toman-Miller also denies the assumption that the Stanford campus is deeply liberal.

 

“Republicans have been here on campus since its founding,” Toman-Miller said, pointing out that Leland Stanford was a Republican. “At the activities fair this fall, [the College Republicans] signed up over 60 new members . . . there are indeed many Republicans at Stanford.”

 

However, even with recent growth, the College Republicans’ mailing list remains one eighth of the size of the Stanford Democrats’, which boasts about 800 members.

 

Both organizations, however, were quick to point out that political engagement is nonpartisan.

 

“[We] help register everyone eligible to vote,” Toman-Miller said. “[All of us] must engage in a constant and active debate on the risks and opportunities facing our country.”

 

Lamont echoed her sentiment.

 

“A big thing for [the Stanford Democrats] is activism as a whole,” she said. “There’s no partisanship in getting people to register. Our big task is following up and getting out the vote.”