GMU Democrats Take On Grassroots Strategies

By Connect Mason Reporter Rachael Dickson

“We have several members who have worked on the presidential campaigns already,” said junior Katie Bowen, Communications Director of the College Democrats.

Junior government major and College Democrats treasurer SJ Hightower worked at Senator John Edwards’s National Campaign Headquarters in Chapel Hill, North Carolina last summer, as an intern in the One Corps program.

“The Edwards camp strongly emphasizes grassroots campaigning. One Corps focuses on individual communities,” Hightower said. “We were trying to get base support there.”

Hightower said he liked that the program encouraged service in addition to working for the Edwards campaign.

“I feel a lot of times people get lost in politics and forget that the goal is to make the nation a better place,” he said.

Though Hightower had no individual interaction with Edwards, the presidential candidate was often in the office and spoke to the interns as a group while Hightower was there.

“I found the experience so rewarding because most people including myself at times tend to look at politics with a really cynical eye,” he said. “Working on the Edwards campaign, I was really amazed by the people working on it. These people really cared about what they were doing. People literally put their lives on hold to work for this man.”

“As an organization, we’re hoping to have watch parties,” Bowen said. “We’ve already got one planned for Super Tuesday.”

The College Democrats have not endorsed a specific candidate in the presidential primary. According to Bowen, in an unofficial straw poll last semester, members of the College Democrats voted for Obama, Clinton, and Edwards.

“We don’t want to make our members choose because of what we said,” Bowen explained. “We want our members to make their own decisions.”

As the Democratic presidential primary campaigns have become more heated, with both Clinton and Obama firing jabs at each other in recent debates, some media pundits have wondered how the negativity now may affect the general election in November.

Bowen expressed her own worries about this, but said that College Democrats had not had a group discussion on the topic as of yet. “I’m concerned, but we have plenty of recovery time,” she said.

With the current closeness of results thus far between Clinton and Obama, and with Edwards vowing to stay in the race until the national convention, the Feb. 12 vote in Virginia may end up playing a role in deciding the Democratic candidate. This is unusual, as Super Tuesday, in past years, has generally decided for certain who the final candidate in the general election will be. If the election does come to that point, the College Democrats are ready and hoping to attend nearby appearances of the candidates as a group.

The College Democrats are additionally looking into the possibility of helping their members obtain internships with campaigns, particularly since Clinton’s office is run out of Arlington.

Last semester, events held by the College Democrats had an average attendance of 20 people, according to Bowen, with some events drawing 50 or even 70 people.

“I think Virginia is a deep purple state at this point,” Bowen said. “We’re slowly becoming blue. That’s exciting for our generation to become part of that.”

In the statewide races, Bowen suggested keeping an eye on the U.S. Senate race.

“The Senate election with [former Governor Mark] Warner is going to be a good one to watch,” Bowen said. “Mason alums work for him on that campaign.”