While candidates cite tax percentages and budget statistics, they've spent significantly less time talking about the greener issues.
Environmental issues, however, are still being debated locally and nationally, even if they have not received the prominence they enjoyed on the '92 campaign trail.
"There's more emphasis on taxes this time around," said Karie Morgan, an SNRE junior.
In the traditional fight between "big business" and the environment, economics have pushed environmental issues to the sidelines this election.
Some legislators claim, however, that environmental legislation can be as friendly to jobs as it is to national forests.
"Protecting jobs and protecting the environment go hand-in-hand," said state Rep. Liz Brater (D-Ann Arbor), who is running for re-election.
Nicholas Kirk, president of the College Republicans said Republicans are pro-environment and pro-business, while Democrats are pro-environment, but anti-business.
"Bill Clinton would rather save the environment than save American jobs," Kirk said.
Brater argued that the government and private businesses can not only create jobs to research toxins and alternative industrial practices, but environmental sensitivity can also save money and lives in the long run.
Preventative measures may curb rising health care costs, as well as health hazards, such as reproductive issues and cancer, Brater said.
Morgan said it is a misconception that "you're either saving the environment or you're saving people's money and people's jobs."
"It's easier to pit one against the other," she said. Morgan said that although environmentally conscious businesses and environmental agencies are exploring a greater cooperation, "it hasn't really been developed on a federal level."
In the few days before the Michigan House and Senate recess for the rest of the campaign season, the Legislature is considering several bills with an environmental connection.
Michigan's location on the Great Lakes makes the state central to many environmental issues. A bill currently in committee in Lansing has the potential to expand that position in terms of the state's solid-waste policies.
The bill would allow solid-waste industries to import solid waste from Canada and eastern states for deposit in a Michigan landfill, Brater said.
"(It means) we cannot outright ban the waste coming in. We are in the position of being a dumping ground for Canada and eastern states," Brater said.
Brater said the bill may jeopardize the power of municipalities to direct local recycling programs.
Although Republicans and Democrats often disagree on environmental issues, Brater said there is not a strict party-line division over this particular bill. "It's not at all a partisan issue," she said.
Nationally, however, the environment remains a largely partisan issue. The Republican Congress has criticized the Clinton administration for proposals GOP lawmakers say will stifle industry. Dole and his Republican colleagues have encouraged leaving the environmental regulations up to the states to administer.
"We want the environment to be clean, but we've got to have a voice of reason," Dole said in a speech to the Economic Club of Detroit on Tuesday.
Dole's efforts in regulatory reform have largely centered around preserving the privacy and rights of states and individual businesses. In the Senate, one of Dole's reform initiatives included co-sponsoring a bill that would require that new federal regulations be preceded by cost-benefit analysis studies.
Dole and the GOP have repeatedly raised private-property issues that Brater said have put a roadblock in Democratic pollution prevention agendas.
"President Clinton can be counted on to do much more protective programs for the environment," Brater said.
Clinton has vowed private interests will not deter him from passing legislation limiting toxic waste, protecting wetlands and regulating industrial activities affecting air or water supplies. While he has encouraged cooperation with state and local governments, Clinton has continued to support federal regulations through the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.