Campus Reaction to Election

(Originally published in Nov. 17 Hutchinson Collegian)

When all the Nov. 7 election dust settled, the Democratic Party found itself with new majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Pundits maintain the takeover occurred primarily because of dissatisfaction with the Iraq war.

Local races were also watched closely by several individuals on the Hutchinson Community College campus.

Dr. Mary Coplen, a psychology instructor at HCC, gave her approval of the passing of the USD 308 bond proposal.

“I was so pleased to see the community and the city of Hutchinson support the public school,” Coplen said.

Coplen sees change coming for national politics as well with the Democratic takeover in Congress.

“I think the democrats will take care of the people,” she said.

HCC English instructor Dan Spees admits that there was one main issue that mattered to him – the war in Iraq.

“My main and most important hope – more than anything else – is that we’ll start some kind of withdrawal of our troops,” Spees said.

Spees also expressed concern over the amount of money candidates are spending on their campaigns.

“I think that we need meaningful campaign finance reform,” he said.

He may be right.

The 2006 election was the most expensive election ever. Campaigns spent a total of $2.6 billion to get their messages across.

So, with all the headaches and expenses of campaign season over, voters are content to take a break, right?

Not so, according to Coplen.

“Now I’m ready for the presidential election.”