Democrat-Republican Picnic Brings Together Students and Local Politicians
Posted by: CCommers in NewsThe Valparaiso Law Democrats (VLD) and Republicans (VLR) held their annual fall picnic on September 19, 2008 at Forest Park. The event provided students and faculty of all political views a chance to eat good food, to play a friendly game of softball and to chat about society’s hot topics in a bipartisan setting.
For the first time this year, the Law
Libertarians of VU took part in the festivities. The school’s newest political group joined in the fun and competed with the other two clubs in two softball games.
In the first game, the Democrats
and Libertarians led a joint team to victory, despite a rally by the Republicans in the last inning. The second game lasted just three innings and saw a combined Democrats-Republicans emerge victorious over the Libertarians. The Democrats were the defending champions of this annual softball event.
The picnic also gave local candidates and their staff members an opportunity to interact with students, and ask for their support as well as recruit possible volunteers. Candidates at the picnic included Larry Balmer, Democratic Candidate for Senate, Bill Suarez, Democratic Candidate for Porter County Judge, Jim Murphy, Republican Candidate for Porter County Commissioners and Jeff McCallister, Campaign Manager for Democratic State Representative Nancy Dembowski.
Even though politics can be divisive, student members of the various political groups were very friendly towards one another. “I’m surprised how civil the two parties were with each other, considering it’s an election year and politics can get testy,” said Brent McMordie, VLD Vice President of Social Events. McMordie also served as the event’s grillmaster, providing tasty burgers, chicken and bratwursts for picnicgoers to eat along with chips, soda and cookies.
Overall, the picnic was a good event for everyone, even those who don’t subscribe to the particular views of any of the political parties represented. Christina Talamonti, a 1L and self-described Independent, said the picnic “was a great event because of the collaboration between all of the political parties. It allowed for a great discussion of the issues in a comfortable setting.”
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