UMPI roommates eager for election results

PRESQUE ISLE – With the final hours of Election Day winding down, college roommates Ron Wrobel and Jeffrey Higgins were waiting expectantly for results.

With a “may the best man win” spirit, the University of Maine at Presque Isle sophomores agreed that there would be no harsh words no matter who wins the presidency for the next four years.

Still, both students conceded that their dorm room has been the site of heated debates in the months leading up to the election – which is understandable when you realize that the chairman of the College Republicans local chapter and the president of the UMPI College Democrats are sharing the same room.

After knocking on dorm rooms all day to “get out the vote,” Democrat Ron Wrobel explained Tuesday how the friends got into the situation.

Both are 2002 graduates of Mount Desert Island High School. Both are sophomores and have roomed together at UMPI for two years. And both independently started up political chapters this year on campus to make sure students were informed and planned to vote.

“I heard that under 40 percent of college students [across the United States] voted in the last election. I wanted to do something about the situation,” Wrobel said.

While Wrobel said the semester started out peacefully, dorm room debates intensified to the point that the two made a pact to talk as little as possible about politics.

Wrobel projects that John Kerry will beat George W. Bush in electoral votes 286-252. Higgins is just as sure that Bush will overtake Kerry 301-247.

“We’ve thrown party names at each other,” Higgins said, taking a short break Tuesday afternoon from poll watching in Presque Isle. “But we’re still friends at the end of the day.”

Wrobel said if Kerry wins, he’ll be dancing around the campus with joy. Roommate Higgins said if Bush wins, he believes his party will savor the victory but then get back to business.

“We have more important stuff to do than dance,” he joked.

Despite the difference in opinion, both students believe the experience has been rewarding.

“I would love to see John Kerry and George W. Bush spend three weeks in a hotel together and see what happens,” Wrobel said. “I think if we all could have the kind of communication Jeff and I have, we could get a lot more done with the country.”