Collegiate Times

Vote Bipartisan is a Political Action Committee -- just one of the many trying to influence politics as Election Day 2008 nears.

However, a closer look at this particular PAC's financial information on the Federal Election Commission Web site shows that Vote Bipartisan has no money to its name, save for $24 in individual contributions.

This is probably because the founder is your run-of-the-mill broke college student.

Brad Hungerman from William and Mary filed a statement of organization for Vote Bipartisan on June 25, 2008. Hungerman, a senior international relations and public policy double major, created Vote Bipartisan and its accompanying Web site, votebipartisan.com, to encourage Virginians to blur party lines by voting a split ticket come November.

"People just go to the voting booths and vote for the Ds or for the Rs," Hungerman said. Instead, he wants voters to "support candidates over party."

Specifically, Vote Bipartisan supports Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, (R-Ariz.) and Democratic Virginia Senate nominee, former Gov. Mark Warner. According to votebipartisan.com's front page, "We need leaders who do the right thing by working not only with members of their own party, but also with members of other parties."

Hungerman thinks that the McCain-Warner combination will contribute to that ideal in Washington, D.C., given the chance.

"We need to think outside the box, literally out of the check box," Hungerman said. The Web site's slogan, "Let's Go Purple" accompanied by a red box with a blue check mark, illustrates the idea of blurring red lines and blue lines to create purple.

The brainwork of Vote Bipartisan began this spring.

"I started out just me," Hungerman said. "I wanted to do something that was important to me."

The PAC is relatively new, but Hungerman considers the number of students who are signing up online encouraging, and donations have been coming in since Vote Bipartisan was filed on FEC. Vote Bipartisan is currently a nonconnected PAC, which means it has yet to raise in excess of $1,000. The status of Vote Bipartisan will change once that number has been raised. The FEC will be updated in the next quarter, and Hungerman won't disclose how much has been raised until then.

Hungerman called the process a great educational experience. He enjoyed learning how to create a PAC, and is excited about the opportunity to share his goal of bipartisan unity.

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