Few College Democrats celebrate party victory

Despite the majority of College Democrats members being tethered by upcoming midterms, three devoted members pushed aside their books to attend Mayor John Street's victory party last night at the Wyndham Hotel.

"It is great to see all of our hard work paid off," said College Democrats Issues Director and College sophomore Dan De Rosa. "I thought [Street] was very impressive. It was great to see the entire Democratic party of Philadelphia together. Next, we have to look to 2004."

De Rosa said that, starting today, he is going to count down the number of days President George W. Bush has left in office.

The Democrats were particularly proud of their candidates' across-the-board positive numbers.

"Street outperformed Katz in all wards," College Democrats President and College junior Rich Eisenberg said. "It shows the Democrats' solidarity. He did very well everywhere."

Yet despite the group's pride, very few members were motivated enough to celebrate alongside their candidate of choice -- attributing their meager turnout to members prioritizing schoolwork.

"We were the only three who didn't have midterms," Eisenberg said.

"More than anything, it was just midterms," Off-Campus Outreach Chairman and College sophomore Brian Rosenwald agreed. "All of our board would have wanted to be here."

Rosenwald said he broached the idea of treating election days as holidays with University officials.

"When three-fourths of our board is unable to come, that is an area of contention," he said. "I hope to change that for the presidential campaign."

The victory party was marked with balloons and blaring music typical of major sporting events, and those in the crowd -- including the students -- soaked it up.

"That's what politics is," said Rosenwald, comparing the gathering to a football game. "Next year is our Super Bowl. We only get these things every two, four, six years."

While munching on the complimentary cheese, crackers and mustard provided by the campaign, the three swapped stories and opinions about various politicians.

Killing time until Street delivered his victory speech, the trio tried to strategically place themselves to meet some of the Democrat bigwigs attending the party, including U.S. Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) and Philadelphia City Controller Jon Saidel.

For the students, election night represented the culmination of a semester of campaigning on Street's behalf. As he made his way along the campaign trail, the College Democrats organized events to help garner support at Penn. Last month, Congressman and University alumnus Harold Ford Jr. spoke on campus in support of Street.

Members also volunteered at rallies featuring political talk show host and Democrat James Carville, as well as an event held last weekend with former President Bill Clinton.

Despite not making it to the celebration, other College Democrats members volunteered at the polls during the day.

"I was amazed at the amount of people turing out to vote," De Rosa said. "I think a lot of people see this as a very important election; not just a mayoral election, it definitely involved national issues."

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