In what has been called “the Year of the PAC attacks” by Reuters reporter Alina Selyukh, the 2012 GOP primaries have been a whirlwind of advertisements, debates, and fried butter sticks. Millions have been spent by Political Action Committees (PACs) on advertisements for and against candidates. While most students at Aragon cannot yet vote, some do have strong opinions about the GOP candidates.
The rather universal consensus among Aragon students is that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is likely to be t h e Republican Party’s nominee for running against President Obama in the 2012 election. Senior Sophia Wienbar said, “I think that since Mitt Romney appeals to moderates, he’s most likely to win the swing vote of people who vote Republican but aren’t Tea Party crazy.” Currently, Romney is the frontrunner in the GOP primaries, having won both the Florida primary and the Nevada caucus recently.
According to several students, Romney is not necessarily their ideal choice for a Republican candidate. “Honestly, I’m not impressed with the candidates,” stated junior James Garcia. “There are certain things I like about some candidates, like how Ron Paul wants the troops out from Iraq, but then you’ve got Newt Gingrich who’s just like ‘kill ALL our enemies!’ and it’s just kind of weird.”
Other students voiced similar thoughts, such as senior Allyson Kiefer, who said “Romney’s alright, since he’s a moderate, and he’s not Rick Perry, the extreme guy.” Perry has, however, dropped out of the Republican race, because of what many in the media have called his “lackluster” debate performances.
The numerous debates this year have attracted significant attention from the media. Accusations have flown, from attacks on Romney’s business history to whether or not Perry knows what three committees he wants to cut. The two frontrunners, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Romney have continually attacked each other on various topics. These attacks are exactly what make some students sick about elections. “I hate elections,” stated junior Laynie Mitchell, “You shouldn’t waste your time trash talking other candidates; talk yourself up!” Garcia agreed, saying, “There seems to be a lot of false accusations with not a lot of proof.”
Many people have expressed frustration at this election and even the election system in general. In fact, a new alternative to Romney has been found in the form of “The Colbert Report’s” host, Stephen Colbert. As junior Rachel Van Heteran explained, “[he’s running]… to illuminate some of the shady tactics SuperPACs can use to coordinate with a candidate, while not technically coordinating with them, since they aren’t allowed to by law.”
Voters across the nation have expressed their dissatisfaction of such political devices as SuperPACs to anonymously fund a candidate without any financial limits, and according to one anonymous commentator on publicpolicypolling.com, he will vote for Colbert if there’s a write in on the ballot, for “Sure, it will be a wasted vote, but I’ll be protesting the circus.”
According to Policy Public Polling’s Tom Jensen, “My guess is if he’d really put some effort into it he could have won 10-15% of the vote and nabbed himself a fourth place finish [in South Carolina].”
Whether liberal, conservative, or moderate, students at Aragon agree that the 2012 general election looks like a game between Romney and Obama. Whoever wins gets to run the country. Garcia commented, “Well, as long as either of them doesn’t start a war, I’ll actually be pretty happy.”
