With just under a month until the final showdown for the White House, it is not surprising that neither party is conceding any ground, especially at Penn.
Though the two partisan groups on campus differ in size, ideology and history, they agree on one point -- their candidate will win.
Earlier in the semester, there was a definite focus on registering voters before the deadline, which passed earlier this week.
In this regard, the Penn College Democrats led the College Republicans by a significant margin: 1,200 newly registered voters to 850.
The College Republicans boast nearly 900 students on their listserv, and the group's leaders claim that over one-third of that number is actively involved.
However, the College Democrats number nearly 2,200 on their listserv, half of whom they claim are active members.
Undergraduates comprise the vast majority of members, although graduate students are also welcome.
"There's a separate group of Wharton MBA Republicans," College Republicans President and College junior Eric Rechtschaffen said. "We're going to be working very closely with them."
The College Democrats have focused intensely on bringing a number of notable speakers -- including Democrats running for local and national office -- to the campus, while the Republicans have focused more on energizing their base in gearing up for the presidential election.
Rechtschaffen concedes that there are lessons the College Republicans could learn from the opposition.
"They seem to be have a real knack of getting incredibly high-profile speakers," Rechtschaffen said, adding that the College Democrats perhaps have a geographic advantage.
"To have [Democratic National Committee Chairman] Terry McAuliffe, [Sen. John] Kerry and Kerry's daughter Vanessa visit in the span of one month" is impressive, Rechtschaffen said. "We're hoping to get the campaign to send people with similar name recognition so we can work against that advantage," Rechtschaffen said.
Eisenberg was relatively less impressed by Republican efforts.
"Not particularly," he replied, in response to whether or not the College Democrats had anything to learn from the College Republicans.
Anything "that they're doing better than us? No, I wouldn't say so."
Both groups have grown in recent years, and have seen a strong student interest in the current election year.
"A few years back, the organization was somewhat in disarray," Rechtschaffen said, noting that about 10 members would show up to each meeting. "The organization has grown by leaps and bounds the last few years."
And increased membership has certainly helped the Republican cause.
"We raised more money in the first month of this year than we did in the last five years combined," Rechtschaffen said, attributing this success, in part, to the increased politicization of the country.
The College Democrats -- established in the 1970s -- essentially became defunct until the organization's rejuvenation in 2000, according to Eisenberg.
Neither leader was able to give an estimate of his group's minority representation, citing the large numbers of students attending the meetings as a hiderance to this type of calculation.
Both insist, however, that the groups are representative of each minority group at Penn.
"We do have many African Americans, Asian Americans, Indian Americans and Hispanics playing vital roles in our group," Eisenberg said.
They added that both have a roughly equal split in terms of gender representation.
"I know that women are very well-represented in the College Republicans," Rechtschaffen said. "Half of our board is composed of women."
The most significant difference between the two groups, in fact, might be their approach to the election.
"This election is going to be decided not necessarily by reaching out to the most moderate voters but by activating your base," Rechtschaffen said.
By contrast, the Democrats are placing a comparatively greater emphasis on outreach to undecided voters.
