College students flood into Iowa to help campaign
Five students from Mizzou for Obama canvassed for Barack Obama in Greenfield, Iowa.
Jan. 3, 2008
DES MOINES, Iowa — While many students enjoy staying warm, seeing friends from high school and catching up on sleep during their winter breaks, students from across the country have flooded into Iowa this week for the presidential caucuses.
Students are representing the youth vote by working on campaigns for candidates, organizing other young voters or simply attending the caucuses.
Katie Ryken, a freshman at the University of Iowa and a resident of Iowa City, transferred from MU midway through the fall semester and now works for the Barack Obama for America campaign.
"I've been really busy, but I'm having lots of fun," Ryken said.
Other students attending MU took their support to Iowa during winter break. Five members from Mizzou for Obama traveled to Greenfield, Iowa, on Dec. 27 to campaign for Obama, D-Ill.
"In the first four or five days we asked voters what policies are important to them, if they were caucusing, how they feel about caucusing and just trying to impress on people how important it is," said Katie Hamlett, Mizzou for Obama member and MU freshman.
Hamlett and the other MU students who traveled with her were assigned to a rural area because metropolitan areas, including Des Moines and Iowa City, already have a lot of supporters and volunteers, Hamlett said. This has allowed the students to walk door-to-door and partake in discussion with residents, who sometimes live miles apart.
"People in Iowa have been extremely good hosts," Hamlett said. "They've been really respectful and the vast majority of people are willing to talk to you and want to have a dialogue."
Typically, the work of student volunteers includes phone banking and canvassing for certain candidates, in which supporters will organize to contact a target group to amass backers for the given candidate or try to gather or register voters.
Not only students from Iowa's border state to the south made the trip to Iowa, but also young adults from across the country.
Multiple student groups from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill traveled to Iowa and provided rides for students from North Carolina State University and West Virginia University.
Chris Hatton, a WVU freshman involved in the West Virginia Young Democrats, came to Iowa one week before the Jan. 3 caucuses and said the youth vote is extremely important.
"It's critical," Hatton said. "The policies and decisions made now will affect us more than anyone."
Hatton said students can excel in complaining about the issues affecting them, but more must be done.
"If students got more involved, things would really start to change, he said."
The youth involvement isn't limited to college students. David Whalen, a senior at Davenport Central High School, became involved early with the campaign of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and will caucus for him tonight. Whalen is also involved with talking with young voters around his high school and discussing issues important to them.
"I think it's extremely important," Whalen said. "The next president is really going to shape our future."
The candidate who has targeted the youth vote more than the others is Obama, who has drawn heat from fellow Democratic candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn, for some of his campaign tactics. Obama informed out-of-state students who attend colleges and universities in Iowa that they can come back to caucus.
But Obama lashed back at critics during a Nov. 2 rally in Coralville, Iowa, that was heavily attended by college-aged people.
"There's been a lot of discussion from the pundits lately because they don't think you're going to show up," Obama said. "Are you going to prove them wrong?"
Alec Schierenbeck, president of the College and Young Democrats of Iowa, believes the pundits will be proven wrong.
In 2004, 18-29 year-olds composed 17 percent of the vote in the presidential elections.
"I expect those numbers to go up," Schierenbeck said. "They're going to make a difference. Students are incredibly excited all over Iowa."
More Jan. 3, 2008 News Stories
- College students flood into Iowa to help campaign — Five students from Mizzou for Obama canvassed for Barack Obama in Greenfield, Iowa.
- Explaining the Iowa caucuses — Caucuses are held in 1,781 precincts across the state of Iowa.
- History of the Iowa caucuses — Iowa has become a proving ground for presidential candidates.
- Iowa caucuses blog — Keep checking themaneater.com throughout the night for more updates.
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