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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Clinton supporters search for a new candidate

When Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) conceded to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on June 7, GW junior and ardent Clinton supporter Daniel Boehmer had a decision to make.

Boehmer, a paying member of the College Democrats, could have chosen to stick with his party and vote for Obama. But instead, he decided to ditch the Democratic Party and throw his support behind Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the presumptive Republican nominee.

“Being a Democrat does not mean always voting Democrat,” Boehmer said.

Boehmer is one of many Clinton supporters at GW facing the reality that their candidate is out of the presidential race, looking for the next best thing. Though federal election records show that a majority of GW employees donate to Obama, a small group of major donors gave more than $24,000 to Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Boehmer said Obama’s supporters are too focused on his personality, and not the issues. After Clinton’s concession, Boehmer wrote a letter to president of the College Republicans, Brand Kroeger, asking him to make a group for GW Clinton supporters who have now chosen to vote for McCain in the fall.

“Providing these individuals with some form of organizational support, in my opinion, is a valuable step towards weakening the sway of Sen. Obama’s supporters on campus and would ultimately lead to John McCain seeing more support on campus and in the Washington community at large,” Boehmer wrote.

Kroeger said Boehmer isn’t the only GW Democrat who has approached him about supporting McCain.

“Dozens of Democrats at GW have e-mailed me saying they privately support McCain,” said Kroeger, a senior.

While there may be a group of GW Clinton supporters who decided to vote for McCain in the fall, many have also decided to join the Obama camp.

College Democrats President Cory Struble is one such Democrat.

Struble, a senior, was the president of GW Students for Hillary and despite his strong commitment to Clinton’s campaign, has decided to vote for Obama.

“I always knew that whoever won (the Democratic Party nomination) I would be supporting them and I’ve been saying that for a very long time,” Struble said. “My joke was always that I would support senator Obama if he is the nominee, I will go door to door for him if he is the nominee, and probably knock on even more doors because that’s probably what it will take. I still believe she was the more electable candidate, but I believe that this country will come around to him and the party will unite around him and he will be the next president.”

Rupita Chakraborty, a sophomore and former Clinton campaign intern, said she will also vote for Obama in the fall.

“Hillary and Obama have very similar stances on the major issues facing our country today,” Chakraborty said. “I therefore will be supporting Obama in the upcoming election and most definitely will vote for him.”

GW professor Allida Black, a founder of the pro-Clinton WomenCount PAC, said she traveled to 14 states for Hillary where she “knocked on more than 5,000 doors, spoke at more than 100 house parties, made 15,000 phone calls, raised more than $150,000 and donated $4,600 (the legal maximum) to the campaign.”

Black said she will not vote for McCain in November, but added that Obama does not yet have her vote.

“Senator Obama has to earn my vote,” said Black, a history professor. “So far all he has done is ask me for money and has not addressed the denigrating treatment his campaign and the media heaped upon senator Clinton. When he addresses that and treats her with the respect she deserves and has earned, and embraces truly universal health care, I will vote for him.”

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