Category: Politics

Trump rallies Ohioans at the Delaware County Fairgrounds

By John Bonus, Transcript Reporter

With the election drawing closer, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made a stop in Delaware, Ohio for a packed rally Oct. 20.

The rally took place at the Delaware fairgrounds and a huge crowd of supporters greeted Trump. People began gathering at the event early in the morning and security had to close the gates hours before the event started.

Trump opened the rally by remarking about possible election results.

“I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election,” Trump said. “If I win.”

The remark was in reference to his past suggestions that the election may be rigged in Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s favor. He continued by talking about the problem of voter fraud and how it could possibly influence the election results.

It is traditional in presidential elections for the loser to gracefully accept the winner as the people’s choice, but as Trump has shown in his campaign, he is anything but a traditional candidate.

Several students from Ohio Wesleyan attended or at least attempted to attend the rally, including sophomore Cole Petty.

Petty is the president of College Republicans on campus and works as a volunteer for the Trump campaign. He has worked at rallies in the past, but was unable to work at the one in Delaware due to the number of volunteers.

Petty said he wasn’t bothered because he sees the large influx of supporters and volunteers as a great sign for the Republican nominee.

“Even though I didn’t get into the Delaware Trump rally, I still think that it’s great that we have this many people coming,” Petty said. “The fact that they have to turn so many people away at his rallies shows that he may have larger support than the media portrays him to have.”

Petty is one of many students who are excited to see how Ohio and the rest of the country will vote in this election.

Early voting information important for students

By Cirrus Robinson, Transcript Reporter

As voting registration for Ohio ended Oct. 11, the outreach efforts of Jenny Holland, assistant professor of politics and government at Ohio Wesleyan, and several students came to a close.

The upcoming presidential election called for serious fervor from campus political teams ensure that students had access to voter information and accurate registration.

Early voting in Ohio begins Oct.12 and ends Nov. 7. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8th. OWU Daily and corresponding emails from Holland and other campus outlets will update students on what they need to do before and on Election Day.

Tables spread throughout campus provide forms and information to make an early election choice.

A valid ID and complete registration are the only requirements to cast an early vote. Absentee ballot applications can be completed and printed online for those who are not currently registered to vote in Delaware, and students can submit ballots until the end of polls closing a Election Day.

Tables in the lobbies of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center, Beeghly Library and OMSA provided students with registration forms and information about changing their addresses right up to Tuesday when opportunities closed.

The U.S. provides flexibility during election season in allowing a voter to choose either their home state or the state in which they currently reside to register.

This allows college campuses to ensure all students, particularly OWU with high national and international enrollment, can be prepared.

Holland stressed the importance of proof of residency and signing up under the correct OWU address to ensure that students are not left with any gaps in their eligibility come November.

Those who registered to vote in the spring with different dorm addresses were also encouraged to update their information and ensure that everyone was able to make their mark in the presidential race.

Students can check their voting status to make sure they were properly registered at either a Board of Elections website correlating with their address or at My Voter Information at voterlookup.sos.state.oh.us.

OWU professor quoted in New York Times article

By Evan Walsh, Transcript Reporter

Jenny Holland, a professor of politics and government at Ohio Wesleyan, was recently quoted in a New York Times article about the impact Delaware County voting demographics and local economic growth will have on who voters choose to support.

Her analysis was included in Binyamin Appelbaum’s article “Reliably Red Ohio County Finds Both Trump and Clinton Hard to Stomach,” which was published Sept. 9.

Ohio, considered a “purple” state because neither Democrats nor Republicans control a majority of the electorate, is home to 18 sought after electoral votes.

The same does not apply to Ohio’s Delaware County which, historically, has been a Republican county.

Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, is looking to capitalize on the decades long economic disillusionment of voters from the “rust belt.”

Due to economic improvement, residents of the county are second-guessing their choice for president. Many do not identify with Trump’s message.

Holland, who received a doctorate for her research on campaigns and elections, spoke about the importance of this change in priorities.

“What do you do if the Republican candidate is unpalatable to you … do you just show up and not vote for president at all? Or, could there be a possibility that a Republican woman would show up and vote for Hillary Clinton? We just don’t know.”

Despite her insight, Holland would not make any predictions about who will call themselves the 45th president of the U.S. come Nov. 8.

But she said she expects this election will be won by “the candidate with the most organized, best ground game.”

This is not the first time Holland has been included in a major news agency’s story. Last July, she was quoted in the Wall Street Journal in a similar story about Delaware County voting patterns.

“I was really impressed by what she had to say and think she is a great voice for our school,” junior Xander Pacilio said.

Holland currently oversees OWU’s voter registration drive and said she is optimistic this initiative will get more students participating.

“This drive provides students with an exciting opportunity to get involved by exercising a very important right—the right to vote,” Holland said.

Boston Globe columnist talks presidential candidate concerns

By Evan Walsh, Transcript Reporter

Some of those who watched the first presidential debate may have been asking themselves: how did we get Donald Trump (R) and Hillary Clinton (D) as our presidential nominees?

Michael Cohen, a columnist for the Boston Globe and World Review, addressed the concerns ordinary Americans have about the candidates before students and faculty Wednesday, Sept. 21 in Merrick Hall.

Cohen, who has covered both Clinton and Trump’s respective campaigns for the last 15 months, began with a quote from William Faulkner about history repeating itself: “The past is not dead, it’s not even past.”

He then elaborated on those similarities this year’s election shares with another famous, though controversial, election year: 1968.

According to Cohen, Trump, the GOP’s nominee for president is not unlike Alabama’s George Wallace, a Dixiecrat, who divided the Democratic party prior to the General Election of 1968.

Both Trump and Wallace, considered outsiders to Washington’s establishment politics, have a history of using “strong but hateful rhetoric” to appeal to the interests of their constituents.

Citing his most recent publication, “American Maelstrom: The 1968 Election and the Politics of Division,” Cohen criticized the explicitly racist and misogynistic overtures coming from Trump and his supporters.

“When it comes to Trump, it’s not a matter of issues or ideology; it’s about fear … existential fears,” Cohen said.

Brian Goldaber, a politics and government major, said he enjoyed Cohen’s analysis and felt Cohen’s comparisons between Wallace and Trump were appropriate.

“They both capture a sense of frustration with the established political order and they overtly say a lot of things that conventional politicians would never say,” Goldaber said.

Jenny Holland, assistant professor of politics and government, moderated the event and led a Q&A once Cohen concluded his speech.

One audience member, soliciting Cohen’s opinion on gender’s impact on the race, wanted to know how “Trump supporters [those he’s met while covering the campaign] have responded when they were asked about the possibility of the first ever female presidency.”

Tyler Iffland, who remains unsure of which candidate he prefers, said he does not think that gender matters as much as each candidate’s lack of transparency.

“How can I confidently vote for Clinton when she can’t release her emails, and how can I confidently vote for Trump if he’s hiding his tax returns?” Iffland said.

Members of the Arneson Institute for Practical Politics and Public Affairs organized the lecture.

Politics and government professor quoted in New York Times article

By Evan Walsh, Transcript Reporter

Jenny Holland, a professor of politics and government at Ohio Wesleyan, was recently quoted in a New York Times article about the impact Delaware County voting demographics and local economic growth will have on who voters choose to support.

Her analysis was included in Binyamin Appelbaum’s article “Reliably Red Ohio County Finds Both Trump and Clinton Hard to Stomach,” which was published Sept. 9.

Ohio, considered a “purple” state because neither Democrats nor Republicans control a majority of the electorate, is home to 18 sought after electoral votes.

The same does not apply to Ohio’s Delaware County which, historically, has been a Republican county.

Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, is looking to capitalize on the decades long economic disillusionment of voters from the “rust belt.”

Due to economic improvement, residents of the county are second-guessing their choice for president. Many do not identify with Trump’s message.

Holland, who received a doctorate for her research on campaigns and elections, spoke about the importance of this change in priorities.

“What do you do if the Republican candidate is unpalatable to you … do you just show up and not vote for president at all? Or, could there be a possibility that a Republican woman would show up and vote for Hillary Clinton? We just don’t know.”

Despite her insight, Holland would not make any predictions about who will call themselves the 45th president of the U.S. come Nov. 8.

But she said she expects this election will be won by “the candidate with the most organized, best ground game.”

This is not the first time Holland has been included in a major news agency’s story. Last July, she was quoted in the Wall Street Journal in a similar story about Delaware County voting patterns.

“I was really impressed by what she had to say and think she is a great voice for our school,” junior Xander Pacilio said.

Holland currently oversees OWU’s voter registration drive and said she is optimistic this initiative will get more students participating.

“This drive provides students with an exciting opportunity to get involved by exercising a very important right—the right to vote,” Holland said.

Clinton hopes for future with debt-free college experience

By Cirrus Robinson, Transcript Correspondent

Tuition for Ohio’s four­-year universities rose by five percent, or by $523, since 2008.

Pressure from college-­age voters and paying parents rests on the major 2016 presidential candidates to make shifts in debt percentages and the quality of higher education for future generations.

The elimination of tuition and a utopian future with debt ­free college is the vision that democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has prided herself on since the beginning of her campaign trail.

Facing much criticism, her administration laid a concrete plan to restore and expand Pell Grants to cover low and middle-class families in their possible debts, set an income requirement for those who would be exempt from tuition costs and to create on­-campus work mandates to help relieve the cost of student attendance.

Clinton looks to galvanize millennial voters to get the majority on board with her efforts for college students.

“What we’ve been basically doing on this campus is trying to register voters on campus and make sure they are registered at the right address,” said freshman Evan Williams, a contributor to OWU’s student efforts to increase student participation in the upcoming election.

OWU students seem to favor Clinton or Gary Johnson, Williams said.

“But our real goal is to make sure people have the right address and access to information they need,” he said.”

Republican candidate Donald Trump, however, has made less explicit notions about plans for higher education in terms of finance.

His administration has given few specifics, but hint that his stance during the fall campaign will greatly contrast that of the Clinton campaign in terms of debt­ free tuition.

He criticizes logical backing for her motives, particularly regarding funding and legislation for loans.

“Many of the ideas on which the Trump campaign is working involve a complete overhaul of the federal student loan system,” wrote Sam Clovis, policy director of Trump’s campaign, for Inside Higher Ed.

“Moving the government out of lending and restoring that role to private banks, as was the case before President Clinton partially and President Obama fully shifted loan origination from private lenders to the government.”

This outline would theoretically allow local banks to lend to students within their geographical reach, and to wield more power in deciding which students are deserving of dollars based on not only their current status, but also what they can hypothetically achieve in the future.

This would likely make loans more exclusive based on degree of need and prospective majors, as it works toward spending less federal money on loans that will not result in economic product.

Gary Johnson, the prospective third­ party and libertarian candidate, has stressed the elimination of Common Core and a majority of policies that give the federal government access to all standards of education.

He proposes terminating the Board of Education to give both secondary and higher education students the opportunity to be directed and given opportunities locally, rather than under federal mandates.

The upcoming fall election leaves room for all candidates to provide their final thoughts and proposals in the college controversy.

 

 

Clinton caged in cutout

By Liz Hardaway, A&E Editor

The Delaware County Republican Party headquarters has one message for people window shopping on Sandusky Street: Hillary Clinton is for sale and should be imprisoned.

Before entering the doors of the downtown Republican location, a cutout of Hillary Clinton in a cage is displayed, with a for sale sign plastered on the window, right across the street from their democratic counterpart the Ohio Together office.

“It’s the classic representation of what a lot of republicans think about Hillary Clinton,” said Alex Lutz, a junior and avid republican on campus.  

Holly Adams, an Ohio woman who supports Donald Trump and volunteer, agreed with the sign, stating how Clinton was not an appropriate role-model for young girls. Showing a chart, Adams pointed out the four factors that voters from both sides care about most: jobs, economy, terrorism, national security and healthcare.

Starting with jobs, Adams stated that Trump has created 200,000 jobs across the globe for over 50 years. According to an analysis conducted by CNN Money and PrivCo, which researches private companies such as the one run by Trump, there are only 34,000 jobs attributed to Donald Trump.

Adams also admired Trump for not owing other companies or big-business favors, compared to Clinton who asks her friends for money and uses ten percent of this money for charitable work and “takes the other 90 percent and she and her family and friends fly around the world,” said Adams. The American Institute of Philanthropy concluded, however that 88% of the funds are used for programs and charity.

“We think it’s really important as women that are raising smart, strong nice daughters to understand what kind of role model we want for her and Hillary Clinton is not it,” said Adams.

“She’s the only candidate that stands for access to women’s health care, closing the wage gap and confronting the issue of violence against women” disagrees Sarah Foster, a junior and volunteer for Ohio Together.

“[Clinton] even has a plan for addressing specifically campus-based sexual assault. She’s been a lifelong fighter for women’s rights as well as children’s,” Foster said. “And Donald Trump…has never been anything close to a fighter, for anything other than his own wealth…he runs a campaign based in bigotry and misogyny.”

Republicans, such as Lutz and Adams, admire Trump’s business ethic and think that is a strong asset for his campaign. For small-business owners especially, the re-negotiations of trade deals are believed to bring a lot money into the economy.

“When [Trump] first started running, I was excited that he was not a politician. He tapped into the frustration of the American people…everybody’s bought out by special interest groups” said Lutz.

Republicans are skeptical of Clinton’s involvement with Benghazi and her e-mail scandal.

“The conclusion that I’ve come to is that she was irresponsible with that information. That’s not a virtue of a president, not to mention her liberal policies do not align with how I think,” said Lutz.