This year 40 delegates represented the Maine Republican Party at the Republican National Convention. They came from many different walks of life, representing the diversity of the Republican Party. They range in age from juniors in college to senior citizens. They are current members of the armed forces and retired veterans. They represent the variety of personal beliefs found under the tent of the GOP, but they all stand behind the Commander-in-Chief George W. Bush.
The Maine GOP is very excited by the different walks of life represented by the delegates from Maine. Of the delegates, 13 percent are veterans and eight percent are now serving in the armed forces. There is a roughly equal mix of men and women. When asked if the diversity of the delegates reflected the diversity of the Maine Republican Party, Jonathan Read, chair of the University’s College Republicans, spoke to the diversity of the entire Republican Party nationwide:
“The Maine Party is as diverse as it can be for a state that is not very diverse. The Republican Party as a whole is a very big tent party. We have everything from conservatives to moderates.”
This year’s delegation boasts two college students, one from Maine and one a student in Maine. Oliver Wolf, vice-chair of the Maine College Republicans, studies political science at Bates College. Wolf was the top vote-getter for a delegate from Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. He’s currently serving his second term as vice-chair of the Maine College Republicans and in March was unanimously elected president of the Bates College Republicans.
Colleen Curry, of Warren Maine, is a junior at Wells College in New York where she is majoring in economics. During her freshman year she helped organize a chapter of College Republicans on the Wells campus. Previously that school only had a chapter of College Democrats.
Notables with the Maine delegation include Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, Snowe’s husband, former Gov. John McKernan Jr. and 78-year-old Ival Cianchette of Falmouth, the father of Peter Cianchette.
To find out more about what is happening at the Republican National Convention, visit 2004NYCGop.org.
Students interested in becoming politically active, both on the campus and off, have a plethora of options. Visit the Board of Student Organizations at http://studentgroups.usm.maine.edu/bso/ to find the college political group of your choice. Or visit the home page of the League of Pissed Off Voters for a more radical, but non-party affiliated, approach: