New leaders for both parties on campus
Haynes and Buhrmester take College Republicans and Democrats.
Published Dec. 8, 2006
Both the College Democrats and the College Republicans elected new presidents this month. Nick Haynes will replace Tyson Mutrux as president of the College Republicans and Mark Buhrmester will lead the College Democrats.
Haynes said his goal for the coming year is to make the student population more aware of his organization.
"My goal is basically to increase the visibility of College Republicans on campus," he said.
Haynes said he wants to bring a variety of different speakers to campus. These speakers would include elected representatives along with possible candidates for the 2008 presidential election as they announce their candidacy.
Haynes said he would like to have other social events such as a barbecue, but he has yet to discuss this with the other officers in the short time since the election.
The main drawback of the job is the time commitment involved, something that surprised him when he first took office, Mutrux said.
"Make sure you have your schedule organized," he said.
Mutrux recommended that Haynes reach out to other groups, especially those he feels tend to harbor stereotypes about Republicans.
He said inviting these groups to Republican events is often an ineffective strategy, so he recommended going to meetings of these groups to speak about the Republican perspective.
Mutrux said that his term went well, despite the College Republicans' disappointment in Jim Talent's loss in Missouri's Senate race.
But state Rep. Ed Robb's re-election was one of the group's high points.
The College Democrats have elected a completely new board of officers, with Mark Buhrmester to serve as president.
Buhrmester said he is worried that a lack of headline elections will lead to decreased interest in the club.
"It's going to be difficult to keep people interested," he said. "Our goals are going to be membership retention and hopefully increasing our membership through more social activities."
As for bringing speakers, he said nothing is yet in the works, but it is something he would be interested in doing.
Buhrmester said the Democrats have not yet discussed their preparations for the 2008 Presidential Election.
Outgoing College Democrats President Nate Kennedy said Buhrmester should be ready to deal with the job's tough points.
"Be prepared to work with the university bureaucracy," he said. "It's not too hard once you know what to do."
Kennedy said it is often hard to deal with campus authorities when the leader is in a hurry.
"It can be kind of hectic at times," he said.
Kennedy said some of the highlights of his term were the election of Claire McCaskill and the group's trip to New Orleans to help with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
Rick Puig was elected to be the Democrat's treasurer.
He said he was also concerned about keeping people interested during an off-election year.
"We've got a pretty difficult challenge," he said.
Puig's main goal is to work on ways to get people interested in the club who will remain interested in helping them in the 2008 presidential campaign. The group is planning several events, but no plans are ready to be officially released.
"Everything is still kind of in the works," Puig said.