Northeast students (from left) Lionel Berry of New Albany, Cortez Keith of Corinth and Darrius Well from Marshall County show their support for presidential and vice-presidential candidates with cut-out masks of Joe Biden, Barack Obama and John McCain, respectively as the trio votes in the Haney Union during a Mock Election held Thursday, October 30, 2008.

NORTHEAST GOES DECISIVELY RED IN MOCK ELECTION

BOONEVILLE, Miss. – In a mock election co-sponsored by Northeast Mississippi Community College’s Iota Zeta chapter of Phi Theta Kappa and the Student Government Association, members of the student body, faculty and staff voiced their choice for the forty-fourth President of the United States of America and the result was decisively red.


Republican presidential candidate John McCain beat out Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and a host of other hopefuls in the mock election held on the Northeast website, Thursday, October 30, 2008.


Earlier during the fall semester, the groups organized a mock presidential debate to encourage members of the college to vote and registered almost 90 participants during a voter registration drive.


“Our goal has been the same as it was with the presidential debate and the voter drive,” said Phi Theta Kappa Vice-President of Leadership Brent Johnson, “and that was to encourage students to become more involved in the political process on campus.”


McCain captured 73.7-percent of the vote compared to Obama’s 24.5-percent. Chuck Baldwin (4) and Ralph Nader (2) rounded out the Presidential hopefuls getting votes.


McCain’s landslide came in stark comparison to other area schools where Obama had taken mock elections. Oxford High School, Tippah County and Corinth school districts each had the Democratic presidential nominee capture their vote.


Northeast did not stop at electing a Republican President. The Booneville-based college picked Republican Thad Cochran to beat Erik Fleming and Senator Roger Wicker (R) to beat former Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove (D) in their respective Senate races.


Cochran retained his Senate seat with 77.7-percent of the vote (285-82) over Fleming while the hotly contest race between Wicker and Musgrove the edge went to the Republican 253-114.


Booneville native and incumbent House of Representative member Travis Childers was the only Democrat to win on the Northeast ballot. Childers beat out Greg Davis, Wally Pang and John M. Wages to retain his seat in Washington.


Childers capture 68.5-percent (254) of the vote to Davis’ 29.6 percent (110). Pang and Wages both received fewer than five votes apiece in the campus-wide elections.