In the midst of what many Washington D.C. observers have considered a period of intense partisan wrangling, one group hopes to bring a solution both to Capitol Hill and Walnut Hill.
Unity08, which aims for a bipartisan presidential ticket or an Independent ticket acceptable to both parties in 2008, has been growing rapidly at the national level. At Tufts, though, supporters of the group failed to obtain recognition by the Tufts Community Union Judiciary last week.
According to freshman Alex Dietz, the primary organizer of Unity08 supporters at Tufts, the group aims to spur the Democrats and the Republicans to cooperate with each other and to suspend partisanship.
"We want to end the paralysis in Washington," he said. "The two parties [are] working against each other rather than with each other."
The solution, he said, is not the abolition of the two-party system, but instead its improvement.
"Unity08 is not against the two parties. We do not want people to leave their parties and come to us," he said. "We are for bipartisanship."
To achieve this cooperation, Unity08 thinks the country should focus on "crucial" issues such as global terrorism, nuclear proliferation, the national debt, and national healthcare, and leave other, more divisive but still "important issue" for later resolution, according to its website.
"Just for four years it would do the country good to have an administration and Congress make the parties work together," Dietz said.
The prospect of increased cooperation on these issues has resulted in a lot of attention for the group from media powerhouses such as ABC and the Washington Post.
Dietz attributes this attention to the media's recognition "that the parties are polarized but the people aren't."
"Most Americans are moderates, and the current political parties are focused on the ideological extremes," freshman Alexander Zebrose, another Tufts Unity08 supporter, said.
According to Political Science Lecturer Michael Goldman, this fascination with the center that many Americans feel is indicative of a risk-averse public.
"I believe the majority of the Americans like the middle of the road because it's the one with the fewest bumps," Goldman said.
This sentiment, coupled with the group's catchy goal, has led many Americans to pay attention. "There always appears to be appeal when we say 'Let's all get together and work this out,'" he said.
Even so, he feels that governing from the exact center is unrealistic. "What politics is about is the edges," he said.
Kayt Norris, the president of the Tufts Democrats, said that while more cooperation is ideal, Unity08 might not be the right solution.
"On a conceptual level, I like the idea, however I'm not really sure how practical it is," she said.
Jordan Greene, the president of the Tufts Republicans, also sees some value in cooperation, but only if meaningfully pursued.
"I don't think it's valuable in its own right," he said. "I'm not going to support a Democrat just for the sake of looking bipartisan. I don't care about that and no leader of a major political party cares about that either."
People want advocates in Washington willing to fight for their positions and not compromise, Goldman said.
"The natural instinct is to say don't fight until there's an issue that you care about and then you say 'Why aren't you fighting harder?'" Goldman said.
Still, the group, which has chapters on nearly 150 college campuses, seems to appeal to many.
Part of the group's popularity has come from its networking strategies. The Internet, through websites like Facebook, has played a critical role.
Unity08 will also rely on the Internet for its nominating process, which will occur in an online convention.
"The Internet is making a difference in how politics operate," Dietz said. "But politics is still a grassroots process and Unity08 is taking advantage of that."
Many Washington insiders, such as Hamilton Jordan, the chief of staff under Jimmy Carter and Gerald Rafshoon, Carter's communications director, are helping with this organization.
And college students are playing a central role, with several on the group's Founders Council.
Despite the media attention and national draw, the group was not recognized by the Tufts Judiciary. "Basically, we were worried that such a group that would expire after a couple years would place an undue burden on the Tufts Community Union," said Daniel Halper, the chair of the Judiciary, referring to the group's possible expiration in 2008.
"There's no clear intent for them to stick around," he said, noting that a degree of permanence is something the Judiciary generally looks for in groups.
According to Dietz, the group does not have any planned meetings for the future, but they might try to work with like-minded organizations.
He also said that he plans to meet with other Unity08 members from outside of Tufts after the November elections to determine the future course of the group, noting that the group can still exist without recognition.
Even if the group does survive, though, it is likely to face an uphill battle. According to Kayt Norris, no prominent politicians will run on a bipartisan ticket.
"It would be political suicide for [a Democrat] to get on the ticket with a Republican because that would really hurt them in terms of fundraising," she said.
Also, even if elected, there is no guarantee that cooperation will occur. Congressmen will still be advocating for partisan issues, some of which don't have a very large middle ground.
"Church and State is either Church and State or no Church and State. There's no [cutting] the difference," Goldman said.
The prerogatives of the administration might also depend on which party the president belongs to and which party the vice president belongs to.
According to Greene, even if there is a bipartisan ticket, the party of the president will be overrepresented.
He also said that the very premise upon which the complaints of partisanship are based on may be misguided.
"Ideally, we would criticize partisanship only when [politicians] put loyalty to their party above loyalty to their ideals or loyalty to their country," he said.
"Now partisan means that you're being liberal or you're being conservative. Any issue that's politically charged is being criticized for being promoted by partisans."
Perhaps the most important struggle the group will face, though, is that Americans are more attached to the two-party system and the inherent rivalry that it causes than the realize, according to Goldman.
"It's Ali and Frazier. It's the Yankees and the Red Sox. It's the Democrats and the Republicans," he said.
