Two IOP Fellows Discuss GOP

The Republican Party must gain control of the House and attract more minority voters if it is to continue to grow in power, two Institute of Politics fellows said last night.

"A year is a long time and anyone who makes predictions right now has a brain full of sawdust, but expect a net gain in 1982, in which we will pick up control of the House." Edward Mahe, a former director of the Republican National Committee (RNC) told 15 students over supper at Leverett House as part of the Fellows' Roundtable discussion series.

William Velasquez, executive director of the Southwest Voter Registration Project, said that it is possible for Republicans to make great gains in the southwest because of its conservative population. Attracting Hispanic and Chicano voters will be the key to Republican success in that region, he added.

"We have a duty to encourage Hispanic voter participation in both parties, so that what has happened in the Black community doesn't happen to them." Velasquez said, adding. "We need to involve them rather than to patronize them."