Both the College Republicans and ISU Democrats worked hard during the campaign season.

The big event of the year was Election Day. On Tuesday, Nov. 5, both political groups made concerted efforts to get people out to the polls to vote.

Dean Fiihr, co-chair of the ISU Democrats, said members volunteered at the Story County Democrat headquarters. Students made phone calls and were poll watchers, Fiihr said.

Student poll watchers kept track of who was voting and then returned results of who had yet to vote to the headquarters. Volunteers called people who had not voted to remind them to go to the polls.

The group also helped drive voters to the polls. Because Old RCA residents had to vote in Pammel Court, Fiihr said, “they always have a hard time getting there.”

As election results came in, most of the ISU Democrat volunteers gathered at the Ames headquarters. “The place was packed,” Fiihr said.

When the results showed that Democratic candidates dominated the Ames races, the celebration started, Fiihr said. President Bill Clinton, Sen. Tom Harkin, U.S. House candidate Leonard Boswell, and Iowa House incumbents Cecelia Burnett and Bill Bernau all won in Ames.

“As far as Ames goes, we’re extremely pleased with the results,” he said.

Fiihr said he thinks the ISU Democrats made an impact on the 1996 election because of the number of students they helped register to vote. “I think we did a good job of [informing] students who came into Story County” on introducing the local candidates, he said.

The group surpassed its registration goal of 2,200 by gathering 2,365 voter registration slips.

Chad Schmitz, president of the College Republicans, said the political group volunteered to get its message out on election day and worked to get voters to the polls.

Like the ISU Democrats, the Republicans used poll watching as a tool to call voters who had not been to the polls yet. “I made sure all my friends voted,” Schmitz said.

Instead of staying in Ames on election night, about 30 College Republicans were in Des Moines to watch the election results at the Hotel Fort Des Moines, Schmitz said. The hotel was headquarters for U.S. Senate candidate Jim Ross Lightfoot and 4th District U.S. House candidate Greg Ganske.

The election had some ups and downs for the Republican party. “I was disappointed with the Senate race,” Schmitz said.

Third U.S. House District Republican candidate Mike Mahaffey lost to Democrat Leonard Boswell by a narrow margin. “I knew it would basically be a toss-up,” Schmitz said. “They’re both pretty good candidates.”

However, the election gave Republicans control of the Iowa Senate. This is especially significant because Iowa’s governor, Terry Branstad, is Republican. Schmitz added, “We’re really excited about that.”

All in all, Schmitz said, “The election as a whole wasn’t bad.”