For the past year, the Republican and Democratic Presidential candidates George W. Bush and John Kerry have been spending their time campaigning for .the upcoming elections this November 2. Both men have been investing extraordinary amounts of time, money, and energy into getting their individual political messages out to the American people.

While Bush and Kerry are making theirrounds of speeches and debates across the nation, grassroots groups on campuses allaround the country have been working to support their particular candidates as well. At CCSU two of the most active political groups, the College Republicans and the Progressive Students Alliance, are pushing forward with the same goal: to inform and provide insight about both the current race for the presidency and local races.

"Our goal is to help by suppbrting grassroots efforts of our candidates," said College Republicans President Kristopher Morris "We want to explain our stances on the various issues that surround this (Presidential) race." The College Republicans, who are sponsoring Brigadier General Zambreuski to come and speak about Iraq in November, have been active holding food dives, working with local soup kitchen and providing voter registration information. In addition, they have worked and continue to work closely with the local Veterans association on a wide variety of issues.

"We really want to thank: Congresswoman Nancy Johnson and the other candidates who support us, since we would not be able to do what we are doing without their help" said Morris. Regarding the upcoming Presidential election, Morris noted that the group supports Bush and hopes he wins.

On the opposite end of the spectnma is the CCSU Progressive Students Alliance (PSA). "We're a diverse group of students looking to help students understand a wide variety of issues," said PSA repre- sentative Andrew Cvercko, "we have voter registra- tions, free information about various causes we sup- port, and work with other local groups to educate people about these issues." Recently the PSA brought USMC Sergeant James Massey to speak about the Iraq war, and just last week held an open-door view- ing of the debate for people on campus interested in watching it. In the past, the PSA has participated in numerous demonstrations on and off campus.

"Because our group is open to many different ideas, many people either support John Kerry or other candidates for office" said Cvercko, "however, we all agree and hope that Bush does not win the election this fall."