Results are almost tallied after last week’s elections, and Republicans are still reeling from the dramatic shift in political power across the country.
The Democrats completed a sweeping victory after this year’s midterm and gained control of the Senate and House of Representatives for the first time in decades. They have also taken the governor’s seat in many traditionally Republican states. With Coloradans electing Democrat Bill Ritter to governor and an uncertain marriage between President Bush and a Democratic Congress looming, students voice their opinions on to what’s to come.
Chase LaValley, senior, political science major
Campus Press: What do you think of the power shift from the Republicans to the Democrats after this year’s elections?
LaValley: “Well, I’m a Libertarian, so I was happy with the results. The Democrats have shown themselves to be more fiscally sound of late, as well as being a party of liberal social values.”
CP: What do you think will happen with a Republican president and a Democratic Congress?
L: “It’s going to be a lame duck until 2008. Democrats need to nominate a moderate Southerner for 2008 to capture the evangelical vote.”
Lauren Gibson, senior, integrative physiology major
CP: What do you think of the power shift from the Republicans to the Democrats after this year’s elections?
Gibson: “It was just about time.”
CP: What do you think will happen with a Republican president and a Democratic Congress?
G: “I don’t really think there will be much of a major change in policy.”
Ben Chittick, junior, chemical engineering major
CP: What do you think of the power shift from the Republicans to the Democrats after this year’s elections?
Chittick: “Politics always swing back and forth, like a pendulum. The Republicans were in power, so they lost power. It will swing back eventually.”
CP: What do you think will happen with a Republican president and a Democratic Congress?
C: “It will be a stalemate. Nothing will get done for two years until a Democrat gets elected president in 2008.”
Katie Zimbelman, junior, political science major
CP: What do you think of the power shift from the Republicans to the Democrats after this year’s elections?
Zimbelman: “We (are) looking at a six-year president, and power shifts always happen during the midterms of a six-year president.”
CP: What do you think will happen with a Republican president and a Democratic Congress?
Z: “Nothing much.”
Andy Birkholz, senior, sociology major
CP: What do you think of the power shift from the Republicans to the Democrats after this year’s elections?
B: “People were fed up. I was surprised with the vote, but people wanted change.”
CP: What do you think will happen with a Republican president and a Democratic Congress?
B: “Well, policy didn’t change, only people did, so I don’t think much will happen. But Rumsfeld resigned already; that was pretty big.”