This political season’s grass rooting campaigns have caught the attention of the once politically uninvolved.
The grass rooting campaign of Sen. Howard Dean has inspired many politicians to be reintroduced to their voting public and tap into the power of the people.
“He’s putting a person’s face on a campaign rather than just the television and traditional campaigning,” said Nick Benson, freshman in political science and president of Students for Dean.
Howard Dean is not the only candidate who has rallied the collegiate crowd.
“It’s a hands on thing,” said Holly Brothers, a junior in psychology and president of Students for Dennis Kucinich. “Our goal is to see Kucinich elected, if not, then to have people hear his views.”
The time and effort these groups have put forth has been an important factor to the polling numbers.
“I think it will be key especially at Ohio State,” said Ryan Jolley, a junior in political science and president of the College Democrats. “Mass media won’t work for most students here, we’ll be doing a lot of door-to-door work.”
The tasks of these groups are static but will have a significant change after the Ohio primary on March 2nd. For the groups, none may have more of a change than Students for Dean, whose endorsee has had his lead vanish since the results of the Iowa caucus on Jan. 19.
“I think a lot of people were disappointed by what happened in Iowa. The people in our group very strongly believe in Howard Dean – they were inspired by him,” Benson said. “People believe in him, just as much now as ever before, even though his campaign is in a much more difficult position.”
The decline in Dean’s popularity has also caused some endorsers to pull out of his campaign.
According to a Sunday broadcast of Face the Nation, the chairman of the National Black caucus, a one-time supporter of Dean, has even requested for Dean to drop out.
“We did agree if Howard Dean drops out, or if one of the candidates has the delegates necessary to win the nomination, that we’re going to support that candidate and devote our time and resources to whoever that person is,” Benson said.
If Dean does not emerge as the Democratic nominee his effect could still be the tidal wave of change the Democrats have been searching for.
“The kind of campaign he has run is completely different than the other candidates,” Benson said. “He made a deliberant effort to reach out to young people, to reach out to just average Americans who hadn’t been involved in the process.”
Students for Dean are not the only ones to agree on his positive affect.
“Dean brought a lot of people into the party, which is great, and we’re starting to see the changes,” Jolley said.
The Other Paper reported that The Columbus Dispatch might endorse the democratic nominee for the first time in 88 years, Jolley said.
“It was really good for democracy,” said Peter Nabozny, deputy speaker of the University of Rochester Students Association Senate. “It gave everyday people a sense of empowerment. It was in the people’s hands instead of rich executives at $2,000 plate dinners.”
“I do hope that the hundreds of thousands of people who joined the Dean campaign, and who had not been involved in politics for years, stay with the greater cause the Dean campaign was promoting,” Benson said.
“We were part of something very special,” Beson said. “No matter who the nominee is there will be an important campaign in November. We need to work to put a democrat back in the White House.”
