Midterm election season is finally here, and nobody in New York State really cares.

Why should they? It’s a blue state. Democratic candidates dominated the primary elections on Tuesday. And their beloved Hillary Clinton is on track for a possible presidential nomination in 2008. What a deal.

Despite the fact that most of the candidates have all but sealed their wins this fall, Syracuse University students are left behind.

We hear it over and over again. The city of Syracuse is in need of economic revival, but when candidates in the area run for office they forget who the largest employer in the city is: SU.

Sure, Congressman Jim Walsh has secured federal funding for the Connective Corridor, which is supposed to sweep the BMW-driving, bagel-eating, Keystone-swilling students off the SU campus and into the cultural areas of downtown Syracuse, so they can pump daddy’s money into local businesses. Oh, and there will be wireless Internet, benches, and lighting to make it easier for some of Syracuse’s seedier residents to hit SU students up for money.

But that still does nothing to remedy what’s wrong on The Hill. Businesses in the Marshall Street area struggle just to keep their doors open. Both Fajita Grill and the Hershey’s ice cream shop shut down at the end of the summer. La Tazza’s future is still up in the air.

Crime has also become a big issue around campus, especially during the first few weeks of the semester. This past week alone there has been another a sexual assault and attempted robbery. Both occurred in areas which students frequent.

These problems are perfect opportunities for local representatives to step in. They can offer tax incentives to the landlords on Marshall Street so small business owners can succeed. They can hire more police officers to cover the university area so we don’t have to constantly look over our shoulders when we walk home at night.

What students need to realize is that on and around campus we have an immediate voter base of almost 15,000. The Onondaga Board of Elections has a polling place in the Schine Student Center. With a strong showing at the polls, elected leaders will take notice. It’s almost too easy.

So while the rest of the state may not show much interest in the midterm elections, we should.

Steven Kovach is an English and textual studies and newspaper journalism major whose columns appear Fridays in The Daily Orange. You can e-mail him at sjkovach@gmail.com.

Published on September 14, 2006 at 12:00 pm