Pitt students take part in elections

Pitt sophomore Sarah Posner fueled herself with caffeine, Starbucks cup in hand, while… Pitt sophomore Sarah Posner fueled herself with caffeine, Starbucks cup in hand, while waiting at a rainy Fifth Avenue bus stop. Her other hand gripped a business suit and a bag that displayed four political pins.

She hopped on the 71A with a fellow campaigner, where they laughed about political jokes and how even their dorm room walls were taken over by campaign posters. The day ahead of them included hundreds of phone calls and a political rally.

“If I got paid by the hour, I’d be rich,” Posner said.

She interns for Gov. Ed Rendell’s campaign and spends more than 20 hours a week working at the Downtown headquarters, on top of attending events like fundraisers, rallies and campaign dinners. Posner is not a paid intern, and does this while taking a full course load.

“I have zero free time,” she said.

Other politically active students were found in the William Pitt Union, where a member of Pitt College Democrats passed out voter pledge cards and campaign literature.

“GOP all the way,” freshman Lou Ruffalo said as he walked past the table, his hands forming a megaphone around his mouth.

With political activism showing up throughout Pitt’s campus, the question remains as to how many students will make it to the polls.

The 2002 midterm elections brought out 21 percent of Pennsylvanians between 18 and 29 years old, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

“I just don’t know about the issues,” sophomore Liz Chase said about why she won’t be voting in the governor’s race.

“Pennsylvania is not business-friendly because taxes are too high,” senior Lauren Dumm said. “Take a look at the dying Downtown Pittsburgh area for example.”

Dumm, vice president of the Pitt College Republicans and an intern for the Swann campaign, said she agrees with Swann’s plan for tax cuts to create better business and, therefore, more jobs.

Natalie Hauser of the Pitt College Republicans said she hopes that the war doesn’t affect the governor’s race, because it doesn’t have much to do with it.

“If you’re against the war, then be against Bush,” Hauser said. “But I don’t think it’s fair to group all Republicans together.”

She also said that there is a liberal atmosphere on Pitt’s campus that probably prevents some conservative students from being vocal.

“I don’t think Republicans are a minority on this campus. I think active Republicans are,” she said.

The Democrats and Republicans do agree on one thing — student voting.

“The policies that dictate their future will be decided today. They need to be involved,” Fee said about why Pitt students should vote.

Hauser said it was probably more important to vote in midterm elections than presidential ones.

“If you want to change the way things are, it’s more important to start at the grass roots level,” she said.

Posner did just that as she got off the bus at Rendell’s Downtown headquarters, an office full of ringing phones, random newspaper clippings and piles of signs and stickers. Workers whizzed in and out of the door, under a sign that read “We Love the Gov.”

She sat down to begin 240 calls to students, asking for campaign help. She said she expected around 10 positive responses, if she was lucky.

“With the time I’ve spent on the campaign, I feel like I’ve sold my soul to the Democratic Party,” she said.

She paused, and then added, “Which I’m happy to do.”