Four years ago, then-presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush made MSU a priority stop on their respective campaign trails. They stumped, rallied, orated and smiled their way through East Lansing for a few hours before hitting their next engagement, eventually sending Michiganians to the polls to secure their state for the Gore camp.
Four years later, embroiled in what we expect to be the most important election in our lifetime, we expect nothing less from Sen. John Kerry and President Bush. We don't just expect a campaign stop in East Lansing by both candidates this autumn - we demand it.
Recently, both Kerry and Bush have spent sizable amounts of time in cities just hours away from us. These trips will continue to come and go, and by November, the image of Kerry or Bush at the podium of a Michigan campaign stop will be a familiar one. Another eventual familiarity of the fall will be the reminders of just how important Michigan is as a swing state. In 2000, our 18 electoral votes went to the Democrats. In 2004, Michigan's 17 electoral votes - population drop equals less electoral votes - stand, well, in mid-air.
Like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Missouri, Michigan and the Midwest are neither Democratic nor Republican strongholds this year. In all probability, the electoral votes of those four states, 69 in all, will determine who is our president come Inauguration Day.
MSU and the East Lansing and Lansing communities should be a primary campaign stop in one of the most fiercely competitive states in the union. Our university in particular embodies the spirit and the identity of a swing school within a swing state. We are the largest university in the state of Michigan, nearly 45,000 students strong, most of them young people, a group who needs to be enfranchised most.
Our university and the surrounding community is an oasis of diversity compared to counties and areas nearby, and presents a golden opportunity to enfranchise those demographics as well. We are the people that Kerry and Bush need to be speaking to the most. We understand that, they surely understand that, and we expect to be treated as such.
Furthermore, MSU is not the prototypical liberal college town that it is sometimes purported to be. This week, Bush and Kerry both visited Grand Rapids, an area long known for its conservative leanings. Bush spoke to thousands of his own, and when Kerry made his follow-up appearance, thousands of his supporters came to show their support.
The downfall of a politically homogenous area is that only one side of the political equation is listening. Those areas are not meant for convincing speeches, they're meant for standing ovations and well-used rhetoric. At MSU, we stand to listen - and learn - from the other side. Our responsibility come that time will be to disseminate that message, hoping that we can enfranchise indirectly.
Both candidates stand to benefit from a campaign stop in Spartan country. We're a community that needs to be enfranchised to vote, we're a community that is willing to listen and we're certainly one of the most important areas in a critically important state. MSU needs to be responsible for influencing the outcome of this presidential election. We hope both candidates think likewise.
