ASMSU will be voting on a bill during the Student Assembly meeting Thursday to decide if the organization wants to strive toward bringing presidential candidates to Lansing before the primary elections.
However, some students are concerned with the fact that ASMSU is a nonpartisan organization, and whether one political party will be favored.
ASMSU is MSU’s undergraduate student government.
When asked about the importance of getting a Democratic candidate to Lansing, Jennifer Houghton, international relations junior and vice president of the MSU College Democrats, said there is a bigger picture to focus on.
“I think the real question is: Is ASMSU going to try and give an equal chance to both parties?” Houghton said.
“If they try to get one just as much as the other, and only one shows up, that isn’t ASMSU’s fault. If they try and just get one, that is going against the nonpartisan way.”
The idea of bringing candidates to the area was one of Student Assembly Chairperson Michael Leahy’s original ideas when running for the position.
Leahy said he realizes ASMSU is a nonpartisan organization. The student government would bring this event to students to better the MSU student body, he said.
Leahy said he and other ASMSU officials would work with the city as well as MSU’s Government Affairs office to see if bringing candidates to Lansing is feasible.
A concern on Leahy’s and some Democratic student groups’ minds is the fact that the Democratic primaries were pushed up to Jan. 15, the same day as the Republicans’.
Democratic candidates are still deciding on their pledge of whether or not they will compete in the states that moved the date of the primaries up, Leahy said.
“I think one of the hardest things is trying to see if something like this fits into the schedule of the particular presidential candidate,” said Leo Madarang, a political theory and constitutional democracy senior and vice chairperson of the MSU College Republicans.
“They could also think that Michigan might not be the best place for them either.”
ASMSU will extend invitations to members of both parties, Leahy said.
However, if only one side accepts, Leahy said he realizes it wouldn’t be fair to promote one party without the other.
If it is impossible to reserve presidential candidates before primaries, Leahy said he will focus a lot of his time on getting candidates for a presidential debate after the primary elections in early 2008.
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