All that LSA junior Sarah Shepherd knows right now is that she
doesn’t want four more years of President Bush.

“What’s important to me in this election is making
sure Bush doesn’t win again,” said Shepherd.

Shepherd has been following the Democratic primary campaign for
months, but has yet to decide which candidate she will vote for in
Michigan’s upcoming caucuses.

Shepherd is not alone in her indecision. After the Iowa caucuses
and the New Hampshire primaries, and with the Feb. 7th Michigan
caucuses rapidly approaching, many University students remain
undecided.

“Right now it’s so hard to commit to someone,”
said LSA junior Amanda Fox, who has applied to vote in the Michigan
caucuses but is still undecided as to which candidate she will vote
for. “I think I’ll be able to decide once I look into
it more and see a more personal side of the candidates.”

Shepherd noted that many students may wait until they perceive a
clear frontrunner before putting their full support behind any
candidate.

“I think people tend to look for a winner in elections,
and they tend to vote for who they think everyone else is going to
vote for,” Shepherd said, adding that she has been leaning
toward Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts since his victories in Iowa
and New Hampshire elevated him to front-runner status.

She added that she believes voters should base their decisions
on issues rather than electability, but admits that she is making
an exception in this election; her support for Kerry is largely
predicated on her faith in him as a strong presidential
candidate.

LSA junior Paul Spurgeon, chair of Students for Kerry, said he
has seen a surge of support for Kerry among students like Shepherd
— students who now believe Kerry is the candidate most likely
to defeat President Bush in November’s general election.

“Since the returns last Tuesday in Iowa, things have
really been on the upswing for Students for Kerry,” Spurgeon
said. “I think this campus was undecided about who they were
going to support until they were introduced to Kerry following the
win in Iowa.”

Spurgeon also said the Kerry campaign has steadily gained
members who previously supported Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri,
who dropped out of the race after finishing fourth in Iowa.

Students for Gephardt co-chair Ilya Rusinov said he decided to
endorse Kerry a week after Gephardt’s loss in Iowa and
expects most Students for Gephardt members to follow his lead

“Senator Kerry has picked up the working-class vote in
every single election he’s been in, including Iowa and New
Hampshire,” said Ross, an LSA junior.

LSA senior Rob DeVore, co-chair of Students for Edwards, also
expects Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina to gain some former
Gephardt supporters.

“Our (membership) numbers went from roughly 35 to 60
within a week’s time,” DeVore said. “Every time I
open up my e-mail, I’m getting more and more messages from
people interested in joining our organization.”

DeVore said Edwards will make further gains among University
students following next Tuesday’s primaries and caucuses. The
states holding primaries and caucuses next Tuesday are Arizona,
Delaware, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South
Carolina.

He added that he expects the field of candidates to be narrowed
down from the current seven to three or four after those contests,
and he expects subsequent gains in momentum as well as attrition
from any losing candidates to benefit Edwards in Michigan’s
caucuses.

LSA sophomore Alex Phung, co-chair of Wolverines for Clark, also
said he expects his candidate to benefit from the upcoming
primaries in the western and southern states.

Phung added that both Kerry and Dean are from New England, and
that their performances in New Hampshire do not guarantee similar
levels of support in other areas of the country.

“I don’t think that Iowa and New Hampshire are
necessarily representative of the rest of America,” Phung
said.

Supporters of former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean also downplayed
the significance of the recent results. Following Dean’s
sub-par finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, Dean supporters are
disappointed but have not given up hope, said Students for Dean
chair Ramya Raghavan.

Raghavan, an LSA sophomore, said Students for Dean remains the
largest student organization supporting one of the candidates.

“Our supporters are die-hard, and I really don’t
think they’re going to go down without a fight,”
Raghavan said.