For College freshmen Matthew Adler and Jana Kay, simply sitting at home and watching the 1996 presidential elections on television is not enough. The pair have established Penn for Clinton/Gore '96, an organization dedicated to promoting President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore's reelection bid to the University community for voting in November. The group has won official recognition at Penn and has also established an affiliation with the Democratic Party's national campaign. "The main purpose is to increase awareness of Clinton's accomplishments on campus," Kay said. "For people of our age, Clinton has been the only one who has been protecting our interests." According to Adler, the organization focuses primarily on academic issues in order to illustrate how "great Clinton is for education, while everybody knows the Republicans are planning to cut financial aid." "Loss of financial aid would cause very serious problems for students," he explained. Adler explained that this organization is not only targeting undergraduates. Anybody -- including graduate students, faculty and staff -- is welcome to join. He added that anyone who chooses to join the organization is welcome to devote as much or as little time as they wish. Although Penn for Clinton/Gore is working with College Democrats, another campus political group, the two operate separately. College Democrats cannot pledge its support to any one candidate until after there is an official Democratic nominee. Adler said Penn for Clinton/Gore plans to achieve its goals through a voter registration drive and high visibility during the Democratic primary elections. The voter registration drive is designed to increase votes in November's general election. Voters will have the opportunity to vote not only for the presidential candidates, but Pennsylvania congressmen, senators and governor as well. "Students at Penn who vote this November will be affected by the Pennsylvania elections, although most [students] are from out-of-state," Adler said. "We will try to convince people to vote by absentee ballot, and hopefully to vote Democratic." During the Democratic primary, the organization plans to gather at "highly visible strategic locations to remind registered Democrats to vote for Clinton/Gore.? We don't want [political dissident and Democratic candidate Lyndon] LaRouche's small percentage to suddenly become larger than expected," he said. Clinton/Gore volunteers will target supermarkets, malls and other off-campus areas, Adler said. The group is also working with similar organizations at other schools in eastern Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., in order to prepare for November's general election. Although Clinton is currently leading his opponent, Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), in public opinion polls by a large margin, Adler said he expects the race to become a "close, nasty competition." "It will all come down to the grassroots organizations such as us to decide the race," he added. The organization will hold its first meeting tonight at 7 p.m. in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall.
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