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The independent campus newspaper for the University of Oregon
Campaigns: Political activists
support candidate in blogs
Continued from page 1A
tasks,” DuSaint said.
Her experience is typical, Candee
said.
“Students are usually given the
more mundane tasks to test them
and then get the more exciting as
signments later,” Candee said.
Most interns and volunteers end
up canvassing neighborhoods, an
swering phones, stuffing envelopes
or doing other campaign chores.
Despite that, DuSaint has been
happy with the internship.
“It’s been a great experience,”
DuSaint said.
“She’s learned a tremendous
amount,” Candee said. “She really
didn’t have a lot of experience, and
now she’s a lot more competent.”
Stan Pulliam, political director for
Republican gubernatorial candidate
Kevin Mannix, sees student involve
ment in campaigns as a good jump
ing off point for a career.
“They learn how to work in a busi
ness setting in a high pressure envi
ronment,” Pulliam said. “It’s the best
way to make politics a career.”
A former chairman of the Univer
sity College Republicans, Pulliam
said his campaign work as a student
helped him make contacts and forge
relationships which have helped his
career in politics.
“It gives the campaign a way of
testing a possible staffer,” Pulliam
said, “and gives the student a way
to figure out if that is a career they
want to pursue. ”
Candee has headed the internship
program at LCC for 16 years and
said working with campaigns can
teach students things they never
could learn in a classroom.
“They get an appreciation for the
complexity of campaigns,” Candee
said.
Feedback he has gotten from cam
paigns over the years has shown that
campaigns aren’t worried about a
student’s lack of experience.
“They aren’t concerned about
skills coming in,” Candee said.
“They’re willing to train, as long the
students are willing to commit. ”
Candee sees a possible lack of
commitment as the main drawback
to using students as volunteers.
“There is the possibility of a stu
dent losing interest or dropping
out,” Candee said. “If they’re get
ting credit or a grade, the reliability
level and commitment is larger. ”
Cost is another big reason why cam
paigns will take on a student with very
little experience, Candee said.
“There’s the old saying that if you
give them a title you don’t have to
pay them,” Candee said.
He sees the pool of cheap labor as a
major advantage to local campaigns
that may not have the resources to ad
vertise and must rely on door-to-door
meetings and other tactics.
Kim Leval, Sorenson’s campaign
manager, said students bring a new
perspective to their campaign.
“They bring energy, great ideas
and help us stay in touch with dif
ferent generations,” Leval said.
She also appreciates the work of
students, which helps free her time
so she can concentrate on other
activities for the campaign.
Sara Walker, campaign manager
for Sorenson’s potential opponent
Vicki Walker, sees campaign
involvement as a way for students
to influence the candidates they
work for.
“During the legislative session, a
small percentage of calls come from
students,” Sara Walker said. “In
volving students helps drive issues
that matter to students.”
Though students may not have
experience, they make up for it in
other ways, Sara Walker said.
“We have experienced people on
our staff,” Sara Walker said. “It
doesn’t take experience to go door
to door. It doesn’t take experience to
tell someone why Vicki Walker
should be governor. That comes
from the heart.”
Some students have found other
ways to support candidates besides
volunteering or interning.
David Gulliver and Miles Rost
both want to see Sen. Jason Atkin
son (R-Central Point) elected gover
nor, and they are working to make
that happen. But neither works offi
cially for the campaign or has ever
set foot inside the campaign office.
The two University students are
both bloggers and members of the
Jason Atkinson for Governor of Ore
gon Blog Network, an organization
Gulliver set up to unite bloggers
who support Atkinson.
Gulliver runs “Resistance is Fu
tile!” (gullyborg.typepad.com) and
Rost runs “Do or Die” (semperfido
ordie.blogspot.com).
Before the network was created,
Atkinson reached out to Oregon
bloggers through e-mail and set up
a meeting with the pair, solidifying
their support.
Gulliver sees Atkinson’s support
of new media as an example of
what all politicians should be doing.
He sees traditional campaign adver
tising, such as television commer
cials, as less capable of integrating
all the facets of a campaign together
the way the Internet does.
“Those commercials will suggest
you contribute to the campaign, but
they don’t give you a way to do it,”
Gulliver said. “You can have a great
Internet page, and here’s a button so
you can donate to the candidate.”
Gulliver sees blogs in particular
as having other advantages.
“My blog is not simply an Atkin
son campaign tool,” Gulliver says.
“It’s a source of information on a
variety of subjects that can reach
out to a broader audience. People
who are interested in those subjects
find my blog and then stumble on
the Atkinson Web site. ”
Rost sees his role as a blogger for
Atkinson as pointing his readers in
the right direction to make their
own decisions.
“When someone looks at my
page and sees the network, I want
to be able to tell them ‘here is the
information’ and let them do the in
vestigating," Rost said.
With more than a year until the gen
eral elections next November, most
campaigns still have very few students
involved, but now that school has be
gun and the elections begin to loom
closer, that could change.
Students looking to volunteer for
a campaign should contact the cam
paign’s headquarters.
Contact the city; state politics reporter
at chagan@dailyemerald.com
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