November 3, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

HARTFORD, Conn. – The College Democrats of Connecticut (CDCT) are excited to announce the unprecedented success of their 2006 voter registration drive. Volunteers and organizers registered over 3700 college students, a record number for any non-presidential year.

Record student turnout this year will be crucial in electing House candidates Joe Courtney, Diane Farrell and Chris Murphy, Senate candidate Ned Lamont and gubernatorial candidate John DeStefano.

College Democrats targeted two schools in each competitive district, hiring their first ever full time professional staffer, Leigh Ann Scheider, and recruiting hundreds of organizers and volunteers. In the 2nd district, College Democrats registered over 2400 students at UConn-Storrs and Eastern Connecticut State University. In the crucial 4th and 5th districts, College Democrats registered thousands more at Fairfield University, Sacred Heart University, Western Connecticut State University and Central Connecticut State University.
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“UConn is our proudest success,” said CDCT President Matt Lesser, a junior at Wesleyan University. “Dozens of volunteers went door to door night after night, knocking on every single door on campus. And when they finished, they started all over again!”

“UConn has never registered so many people in a non-presidential year,” UConn Field Organizer Joe Goldman said. “Students are more interested and more involved in politics this year.”  Goldman attributes this in part to the appeal of Ned Lamont and Joe Courtney (CT-2), as well as a speaker list that included Gen. Wesley Clark and actor Ben Affleck.

At Western Connecticut, Field Organizer Whitney Nelson exclaimed that “there’s something in the air with this election… there is an electricity.”

CDCT President Matt Lesser elaborated, “Thanks to the war, thanks to higher tuition costs and cuts to student aid, Connecticut students are mobilized like we’ve never seen them.” Lesser added, “With so many close races, these students will make the difference.”

The College Democrats of Connecticut are dedicated to creating a powerful, progressive voice for Connecticut’s 174,000 college students.

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