Michigan State University - Red Cedar Log Yearbook (East Lansing, MI)

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In the Carter-Mondale campaign headquarters on Michigan Avenue, Walt McNiece, a general business and pre-law major, managed the Stu- dents for Carter-Mondale campaign because he wanted to see some fresh- ness in government. We needed a change, we needed somebody to lead this country, McNiece said. I saw this in Carter and that's why I worked. Some 150 volunteers operating from the Lansing headquarters did much the same kind of work that went on in other Democratic head- quarters. Philip Filner, MSU professor of biochemistry and plant research and a key organizer for the entire Lan- sing campaign, said the whole thing never would have gotten off the ground without people like McNiece and Kay Williams. He added, Al- though it has not been a good year for student support in Democratic poli- tics, the students here were concerned enough to do something. Filner be- came involved in his first active cam- paign because he was tired of reading what was wrong with the government and wanted to do something about it. Richard Nixon convinced me that reading was not enough, he cracked. Fred Goldberg A Carter campaign worker is delighted that his man has won the election. This was much the same reason that Williams and Greg Stein, a gra- duate student from New York, be- came active campaigners. Williams, a sophomore, had been working about three hours a week since the primary. I've never been politically active, but I wanted to get involved and know what was happening, she said. Stein, who studied as an undergraduate at Queen's College in New York, arrived at MSU in the fall and became inter- ested in the campaign soon after. I think it's important as a student - a person supporting myself e to be- come involved, he said. We need a change. It's definitely necessary. by Jeff Hittler take of the campaign appeared in the November edition of Playboy magazine. Although his re- marks about lust were a small part of an interest- ing interview, Carter suffered when those re- marks received exaggerated national attention. I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times. This is something that God recognizes I will do and God forgives me for it, Carter said in the inter- VleW. By election eve, Carter's huge lead in the polls had vanished. The pollsters termed the race too close to call with an amazing 20 per cent of the public still undecided. President Ford, who even- tually lost his voice from the strain of campaign- ing, appeared in over 100 cities during the last ten days of the race. Both Carter and Ford ended their campaigns in Michigan with rallies in Flint and

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20 Democratic students have campaign spirit l. t Fred Goldberg Campaign workers watch the election returns at a local Democratic headquarters. DeSpite the fact that college stu- dents during the 1976 election were the least politically involved ever, those who turned out in September to organize and work for the Democratic student organizations at MSU were spirited and dedicated campaigners. While many students were con- cerned about the election but not en- thusiastic enough to campaign active- ly, those who worked out of Demo- cratic Student Headquarters for Lynn Jondahl, 37th District representative; Bob Carr, 6th Congressional District; and the Carter-Mondale ticket netted enough support to help send all those men to victory on November 2. The road to election day was not an easy one for the campaigners. There were canvassings, mailings, radio and newspaper ads, speeches, rallies, phone calls and leaflet distributions to get students registered and interested in voting for Democratic candidates. Neil Spitzer, a history major and chairperson of the Students for Carr campaign, remarked in the tiny sec- ond floor headquarters on Abbott Road that the experience and op- portunity that the campaign has of- fered me is well worth the hard work. His attitude seemed to reflect that of the 100 volunteers who toiled along with him. Their job, according to Spitzer, was to capture the support and interest of the almost 20,000 regis- tered student voters both on and off campus who represented 10 per cent of the district electorate. Student sup- port is very important to us because students tend to vote Democratic, Spitzer said. In September, his group conducted a massive campaign to get students to register - and to give them reason to. Spitzer first became actively in- volved in politics in the fall of 1974 when he met Bob Carr and became interested in the things Carr said and stood for. He worked as an intern in the spring of 1975 in the Lansing Con- gressional office while also helping to raise funds for Carr's campaign. His job as chairperson of Students for Carr fall term took up almost 45 hours a week, but he said meeting so many new and interesting people made up for the time he sacrificed. The campaign gives me an oppor- tunity to do something that matters, Spitzer commented. It doesn't come back in a 3.0 or 3.5, but in whether Bob wins or loses. Spitzer, along with key helper Patty Sullivan and others, received credit for his work from a political science studies course. will be under a Ford administration, Ford said. Carter immediately challenged the President to convince the American public of his claim. After trying to explain his statement to the press for the next few days, President Ford finally admitted his error. President Ford stood on his record of the past two years, citing improvement in the economy and stressing that our nation was at peace. Carter attacked the Ford policies toward the economy, crime, foreign affairs and Vietnam draft resisters, but saved his sharpest blast for Presi- dent Ford's leadership. This Republican admin- istration has almost been all style and spectacular, not substance. The Ford administration has failed in leadership, the character of the country and our vision of the future, Carter said. Carter, too, was not without fault. His big mis-

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Livonia. Election day saw record voter turnouts in some states, while nationally 53 per cent of the regis- tered voters made it to the polls. Voter turnout in Michigan was 70 per cent of the 5.2 million regis- tered voters. Carter won the election with 51 to 48 per cent of the popular vote. He carried every Southern state except Virginia, and won in New York, Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Hawaii. Ford controlled the West, but came up short in his bid to retain the presidency. Carter captured 2.97 of the votes in the Electoral College, 27 more than required. An issue which may have cost Ford the election was the pardoning of former President Nixon shortly after Ford took office. Although Ford's running mate, Kansas Sen. Robert Dole, called the Watergate issue a cheap shot on the part of Carter and Mondale, it was on the minds of many people as they went to vote. Enthusiasm marks Ford campaign With the tossing of hats into the political arena, presidential candidates in 1976 hit the campaign trail with smiles, hopes and promises. Throughout the United States, re- publican supporters and enthusiasts rallied together behind one man - incumbent Gerald Ford. As thousands of students descended upon the cam- pus fall term, For'd campaign coordin- ators were scouting for recruits, work- ing up enthusiasm and planning strategies to keep their man in the White House. Without any large pep rallies, the campaign tended to have a more subtle approach but did not mask the vibrant enthusiasm of the Ford volunteers. The tasks and duties of individual campaigners were quick- ly brought into focus as over 200 stu- dents manned caravans to neighbor- Students for Ford prepare to canvass in Eaton Rapids. ing communities, handed out assorted political paraphernalia, phoned area residents and canvassed the campus to get out the vote. The student organization began with the efforts of chairperson Kir- sten Frank, co-chairperson Scott Ayl- ward and many residence hall repre- sentatives whose work supplemented party activity. The main push of the Republican party was the phone cen- ter located at 404 E. Michigan Ave. in Lansing. Students manned phones morning and evening seeking com- munity support for Ford, Frank said. She noted that most of the volunteers had no strong party ties. The major- ity were not Republicans, but either Independents or Democrats who sup- ported the Democratic ticket exclud- ing Jimmy Carter, said said. One of the unique qualities of the 1976 election was the tremendous vot- er turn-out across the country a espe- cially within the student population. At the beginning there was some apathy, Frank observed, but as the momentum picked up, students were more positive and enthusiastic toward Ford. In the early hours of November 3, newspapers were rolling off the presses predicting the victory of Jim- my Carter. Ford supporters hung on to reports of suspected ballot stuffing in New York, but the White House soon made it known that there would be no investigation into the matter. To the disbelief of many, President Ford John Herman