After a short lull since the presidential nominations, election year politics are kicking back into gear as November quickly approaches. Both the Democrats and Republicans are preparing themselves for the big fight ahead at their respective party conventions, and a number of Ohio State students will be doing their parts. The Republican National Convention will be held in Philadelphia this Saturday through August 3, and the Democrats will hold their convention in Los Angeles from August 14 to17. Robert “B.J.” Schuerger, president of OSU’s Undergraduate Student Government and former head of College Democrats, plans on attending the Democratic Convention. “Both conventions are a haven for political activity,” Schuerger said. “If your love and passion is politics, this is the best place to go.” The convention is where everybody from the party comes together to have a dialogue over ideas and issues.”Plus the flat out excitement of it, I think, really takes over,” Schuerger said.Craig Bruney, a sophomore economics and political science major and USG senator, will be attending the GOP Convention with about 15 other College Republicans from OSU.”I’d like to go just so I can get a better sense of the Republican Party and how politics itself actually works,” Bruney said. “I’m interested in politics because I’ve seen people like John McCain, who really are inspiring people who want to do good, and they’re in there to fix things and make this country better for everyone.”Bruney wants “to get into politics to hopefully be like that one day.”Demetrius Gorham, a senior communications major, will be going to the Democratic National Convention with a number of other members of OSU’s College Democrats. He feels that there needs to be participation in politics, because it is the only way we are able to “right the wrongs within our society.” “People work on a daily basis creating laws and legislation that affect people’s lives, and we, as students, and people in general, don’t really realize the effect that this has on us until that law impacts us personally,” Gorham said. Gortham said people in America only get involved in political issues when the issues directly affect them.”We don’t think about it until that law comes into play in our personal lives,” he said.That’s why Gorham wants politics to be “like civil service back in the day when people like Thomas Jefferson got involved; it’s just making legislation better for the people around us and for ourselves and our families.”While Vice President Al Gore plans on announcing his running mate shortly after the GOP Convention, Texas Gov. George W. Bush announced Tuesday that he has selected Dick Cheney, former defense secretary, congressman, and White House chief of staff, to be his running mate. Pete LuPiba, former president of the OSU College Republicans and current head of the Ohio College Republicans, said Cheney is a solid choice and that Bush decided on Cheney because of his qualifications to do a good job, not for political maneuvering.LuPiba, who will be leading a delegation of over 60 Ohio College Republicans to the Republican National Convention, will be happy to throw his support behind Cheney.”He is a good, safe pick.” he said. “Cheney is from Wyoming, which has only three electoral votes, and Bush needs 270. That says a lot about Bush’s character. It says that Bush is serious about this, and that he’s looking to the future. He understands that he doesn’t have the vastest experience in foreign affairs and that Dick Cheney does.”It will make a real difference to independent voters once they find out more about Cheney, LuPiba said. Gorham, on the other hand, said he is a Democrat because the party works towards the betterment of society, which encompasses minorities. Democrats feel genuinely interested in changing things for the better, for the whole society.”I know I’m not going to find that in Philadelphia if I went to the Republican National Convention, so that’s why I’m going to LA,” he said.LuPiba countered by saying that “the Republican platform speaks to individualism… rugged individualism.” “Try to be your own self,” he said. “Start businesses. Dream as big as you want, and we’ll try to keep as much government out of your way as possible.”John R. Champlin, an associate professor of political science, said the official purposes of the conventions are to set the platforms of the parties and establish direction and to choose the party`s nominee for president, but now, the conventions are being used more for advertising than organizing.”Since television has become so important, parties have figured out how to get these decisions settled before the convention and try to use the events for free political advertising,” Champlin said. “That, of course, makes them dull to just about everyone who is not already a fervent partisan.  The ‘usual activities’ are speeches and ‘spontaneous’ planned demonstrations.”