With only a few weeks to go before the election, on campus political organizations have continued their efforts to mobilize support for the presidential candidates.

According to College Democrats President Brian Young, a senior political science major, the group has been active in registering students to vote and keeping students informed.

“This year we registered 1,400 new students to vote,” Young said. “That’s the highest number we’ve ever had.”

Young said this is the total number of students that both the College Democrats on campus, and NYPIRG, were able to register.

According to Young, the College Democrats have also organized trips to Pennsylvania on Saturdays to rally support for Obama.

On Saturday, Oct. 11, a group of 151 College Democrats from all around New York state, comprised of chapters from Long Island, New York City, upstate and western New York — including 10 students from Binghamton University — drove to areas such as Bloomington, Stroudsburg and Scranton.

Dan Levin, a senior political science major and president of the New York State College Democrats, thought the trip was a success.

“We knocked on 10,520 doors, and had over 3,000 conversations with voters,” Levin said. “The trip was amazing. It took hours and hours of planning over the past month. We were in contact with the National College Democrats, field organizers in Pennsylvania and the Obama for America campaign.”

According to Young, the responses have been overwhelmingly positive.

“We expected that we would have trouble, but with the economy the way it is and the war, people want a fundamental change, not more of the same,” Young said. “These people are looking for someone who will give them a job and bring their kids home from Iraq.”

Levin also commented on the absence of opposition.

“There were no College Republicans or McCain supporters. We saw some pro-McCain lawn signs, but that was it,” Levin said. “Now Obama has a pretty big lead in Pennsylvania. Before we went, he was only up by five points.”

“Efforts like ours can really make a difference by campaigning,” he added.

Activism at the hands of BU students has been happening at the other end of the political spectrum too, with the College Republicans.

“We are the voice for the conservative movement on campus,” President John Jensen, a senior history major, said. “We have a common set of values, as most of our members are economic and/or social conservatives. We also have a few libertarians.”

The 100 or so College Republicans have volunteered on campaigns for local politicians.

“We’ve gone door-to-door campaigning for George Phillips, the Republican candidate for the 22nd Congressional District, who is running against the incumbent Maurice Hinchey,” Jensen said.

According to Jensen, the College Republicans also go to McCain rallies and invite local candidates to come to campus.

“McCain is against pork-barrel spending and corruption in Washington,” Jensen said. “Obama’s plans to increase business taxes will eventually increase prices on everything and hurt working families.”

The annual debate between the College Democrats and College Republicans will take place at 7 p.m. in the Susquehanna Room in the Old University Union this Thursday.

“The purpose of the debate is to teach students about the major issues in the world,” Young said. “The debate will center around the economy, health care, alternative fuel and foreign policy.”

Jensen encouraged students to attend the debate.

“The people who debate have a lot of debate experience and they are usually pretty humorous,” Jensen said.