Nebraska might see a bit of blue in the sea of red in November.
Since the 1964 presidential election, Nebraska has given all of its five electoral votes to the GOP candidate.
But Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has opened an office in Omaha, trying to take one of those five votes this year by focusing on the state's biggest, most diverse city.
"If the major competitive states are split, we could be talking about a situation where one electoral matters," said Randall Adkins, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
With Obama's campaign opening a new Omaha office, students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are getting involved.
Two groups, UNL's Young Democrats and Students for Obama, are working hand in hand to get more Nebraskans registered to vote.
"We will be working with (the office) as they get rolling," said Erik Mellgren, president of UNL's Young Democrats.
Mellgren, a junior biology and philosophy major, said a stronger Obama presence could help make Nebraska the state to split its electoral votes.
"We've been really strong in getting people who are registered to vote in Omaha so that it's easier for them to vote so they don't have to go home on a Tuesday," he said.
Mellgren added that students should not register with their address in Lincoln but in Omaha, as Omaha is the congressional district most likely to go blue.
UNL Young Democrats was contacted by the Nebraska Democratic Party to get involved. Mellgren said that UNL's Young Democrats are the primary efforts for getting students energized and giving UNL students options.
"Options so that they can vote," he said. "A grass-roots organization, that's what we'll be continuing to do as we approach November."
They have also been working with the Obama campaign office in Omaha through Hannah Ledford, president of Students for Obama.
"The situation we worked out is she does the direct contact with the campaign and she goes to us for help because we have a larger base," Mellgren said.
The Young Democrats and Students for Obama have been involved with getting students registered to vote and will soon take group trips to Omaha to help canvass.
"I'm driving people up this Sunday," said Ledford, a junior international studies major.
When in Omaha, volunteers will go house-to-house, knocking on doors to find out if residents are registered to vote and if they will be supporting Obama, Ledford said.
However, not all volunteers can make it to Omaha, Ledford said. Some members of Students for Obama will call people to help the campaign.
"Young people in general are very supportive of Obama for the same reasons everyone else is," Ledford said. "We're worried about Iraq because we are the ones fighting in Iraq; we're worried about the national deficit because we are going to be paying it off."
So far, Republican candidate John McCain's effort in the state is largely volunteer.
The Nebraska Republican Party is canvassing on his behalf, said executive director Matt Miltenberger. Volunteers are hitting thousands of households with information about McCain and state candidates, he said.
McCain was in Nebraska for a high-dollar fund raiser in July. Obama hasn't been back since he visited Omaha in February for an appearance days before the state's first-ever Democratic caucus, which he won handily.
the associated press contributed to this report
jamieklein@dailynebraskan.com
Be the first to comment on this article!