By Paige Stark
A political science project 31 years ago in Iowa that included then-graduate student Richard Hardy is getting new life in 2007 at Western Illinois University. Hardy is half of the dynamic duo that is leading a mock presidential election set to begin Tuesday and last through Nov. 5, what Hardy calls an effort to “get Western on the map.”
The mock election, called “The Road to the White House Begins at Western Illinois University,” is a full-fledged simulation of the upcoming 2008 election.
“I think by participating in [the mock election], students will learn first-hand how it works and begin to appreciate the complexities of it and why it’s important to participate in our political system,” Hardy said.
Hardy, a Leatherneck alumnus, went on to finish his Ph.D. at the University of Iowa. Recently retired from the University of Missouri-Columbia after 28 years of teaching, Hardy is back at Western, serving as chair of the political science department.
In the 1976 mock presidential election at the University of Iowa, about 500 students participated, and the students picked the eventual winner of the 1976 presidential election, Jimmy Carter. While teaching at Missou in 1987, Hardy successfully conducted a mock election involving 1,800 students. The students were only off a few votes from predicting the eventual winner of the 1988 election, George H.W. Bush. Still, Hardy says the event was very successful in engaging the university and students in politics and in the election, so it was an easy decision to recreate the same civic project here at Western.
“I graduated from Western Illinois University, and so in coming back home, I wanted to do something that would help put us on the map -- or at least something that would draw attention to this university,” he said.
Another goal of this mock election is to get young people more involved in American politics, he added.
“I think by participating in [the mock election], students will learn first-hand how it works and begin to appreciate the complexities of it and why it’s important to participate in our political system,” Hardy said.
With the help of thousands of students and faculty, “The Road to the White House” will be the largest mock election Hardy has ever created. He said more than 4,000 students are involved in making this mock election possible.
Julie Remes, the main student coordinator of the event, said, “On the final night of the election, I wouldn’t be surprised to see seven to eight thousand people at Western Hall for this election … so it’s a really exciting thing for Western.”
Hardy sounded upbeat about the project and the election it’s imitating.
“This is a great political system,” he said. “[Students] should really take advantage of the participation and be a part of this. We’re all Americans.”
More background on the event is available at http://www.roadtowhitehouse.wiu.edu, and the site also includes a comprehensive schedule of events and contacts for students comprising the many different candidate teams.
-- Stark is a student in Dr. Lisa Barr’s “Reporting I” class
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