Athens GOP committee prepares for presidential election
By JOHN HUBBARD – News Writer
The Athens GOP Committee is gearing up for the 2012 presidential election, in support of former Republican Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney.
Political party committees in Athens are preparing for the 2012 presidential election. Graphic by John Hubbard.
“There’s a large majority of individuals that have contacted our headquarters saying that they are now excited about the national election, and want to see how they can help out,” Athens GOP Chairman Matt Brewster said.
Looking towards November 6, Brewster is focusing on finding local volunteers for door-to-door campaigning, where age will play a factor. Only 34 percent of registered voters in Athens voted for John McCain in 2008, while 66 percent of registered voters voted for Barack Obama according to city-data.com.
“It’s interesting to see young people get involved, because we’re working on issues that will affect them in ten or twenty years,” Brewster said.
The Athens GOP branches out of Clarke County, they hope to play a large role in the election nationally
“Georgia is pretty much going to be a red state, so we also want to focus on states such as Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, etc.,” Brewster said. “We are going to create a section on our website showing people how they can help with the national campaign, we would like to do a phone bank to call swing states.”
Volunteers are going to be crucial when operating large phone bank operations, so the Athens GOP is going to be calling on past volunteers for help.
Brewster has recently started the Athens GOP Hispanic Alliance, in attempt to engage the Hispanic community. They hold meetings every third Saturday of the month.
“There are a lot of issues that affect the local Hispanic community,” Brewster said. “We put on workshops, or education features where we discuss the college application process, or renting or purchasing residency in Clarke County.”
Election day is Nov. 6, and the Athens GOP is hoping to see as many Republicans heading to the polls as possible.
“We’re getting younger people involved now. We’ve really grown in the last four years, our meetings four years ago were around 20 people, now this last year I’ve had a couple meetings where I’ve had 80 plus people. The Athens GOP is a growing organization right now,” Brewster said.
Read about how the Democrats in Athens are preparing for the election on the next page.