Silber, for example, is nominally a Democrat, but last year reportedly flirted with the notion of running for governor on the Republican ticket. And he has taken flak for his outspoken style of speaking, alienating many potential liberal supporters.
Weld, on the other hand, has portrayed himself as a moderate Republican, and has counted on his pro-choice stance to woo many Democrats.
Voters across the state are expected to cross party lines right and left in this election--which poses a problem for student political clubs.
By their very nature, college Democratic and Republican clubs have to back the partycandidates. But individual clubs have to gaugestudent interest when deciding whether to helpcampaigns actively.
At many campuses, Silber supporters are hard tocome by.
"We do endorse Silber," says Felton. "We don'thave a strong consensus among the group that heshould be governor to work for him."
"This race transcends party lines even thoughit is Democrat versus Republican," she says. "Wedon't believe Silber truly holds Democraticvalues."
"Members are not working for Silber," echoesHarmon, the Harvard Democrats' president. "Moststudents see the gubernatorial race as a choicebetween two evils."
Conversely, support for Silber is running highamong many student Republicans--but the officialorganizations, of course, are barred from takingpart in the Democratic campaign.
"We do have people who like Silber," saysSumner Anderson, president of theHarvard-Radcliffe Republicans. "They can work forhim individually. They would not being doing it asthe Republican club."
But Republicans are mostly viewing this race asa win-win situation, arguing that a victory foreither candidate would be a net gain forconservatives. Silber "is the best alternative ifwe can't win the election," Anderson says.
"Silber forced the traditional left to be in astate of flux," says Bill Spadea, nationalsecretary for the College Republican NationalCommittee. "That confusion sends moderates over toour side."
The biggest stumbling block for Silbersupporters on campus, student leaders say, is thatthe B.U. president is not "politically correct."
This image of Silber as a tyrannical monster isextremely difficult for many students to shake,Cooper said.
"In the beginning, we had to mobilize supportfor Silber," says Cooper. "The organizationsupported Silber but not a lot of people want towork for him. Students perceived that Silber issomeone inimical to student interests."
"I don't think the press has been fair to theman," says Colin Gallagher, founder of theindependent group Students for Silber andClapprood at Harvard. "There are a lot ofoutstanding points in his record that are glossedover."
On at least one college campus, however,Democratic club leaders are having no qualms abouttheir party's nominee. At B.U.--Silber's homebase, students say they have had no problemdrumming up support for the university'spresident.
Silber is the Democrats' only choice, saysThomas P. Ahern, president of the B.U. CollegeDemocrats, explaining "there is no perfectcandidate out there."
"Silber is qualified to revamp education,"Ahern says. "If in any event CLT passes, we wouldrather have Silber in there to fight the cuts."