Obama campaign will host campus training
By Jackie Wei, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
U.S. President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign will host a student summit at Dartmouth on Feb. 28 to encourage youth political participation as part of its Greater Together campaign. Representatives from six New Hampshire colleges and various high schools across the state will come together in an effort to engage in “grassroots training” and obtain the necessary tools to organize on their individual campuses, according to Holly Shulman, communications director for Obama for America — New Hampshire.
Campaign staff will lead the organizing summit and engage students in a discussion about what steps they can take to help Obama’s reelection efforts, according to Shulman. The Greater Together campaign is part of the campaign’s Operation Vote, which aims to expand voter turnout, according to an Obama for America — New Hampshire press release. The summit will feature a performance from the Dartmouth Aires and the Rockapellas, according to Shulman.
Dartmouth is one of many host sites for Greater Together summits. Other participants will include Miami Dade College, the University of Iowa and North Carolina Central University.
President Obama launched his summit series with a video asking young people to become more politically involved and help him “finish what they all started together in the 2008 campaign,” according to the press release.
“Young people turned out in record numbers in 2008, and we are hoping to build on that effort,” Shulman said. “They play an important role in shaping future generations.”
Greater Together focuses on digital outreach and grassroots organizing across campaign departments, reaching out to college students, high school students and young professionals.
“I think the idea of the summit is to help us connect, network and strategize about how to get Obama reelected,” Theo Groh, vice president of Young Democrats of America, said. “One of the biggest issues is education, as many students are dealing with student loans and unemployment.”
The Dartmouth College Democrats have also begun building up their campaign infrastructure, according to College Democrats member Logan Brog ’15.
“This year, Dartmouth students have set up an incredibly strong campus infrastructure for the Obama campaign in a way that no other campus campaign has done,” Brog said. “Volunteering students are organized into three groups — action, in charge of orchestrating events; people, recruiting volunteers; and messaging; communicating with the Dartmouth community.”
The campus group knocked on over 1,000 doors, made hundreds of phone calls, set up information tables and held more than 10 events prior to the January primary, according to Brog.
The goal of the summit is to reenergize people and get them excited about the election, according to Lewis.
“We are involved both locally and with the federal campaign, and part of our job is getting people educated about what’s going on,” Lewis said. “There is a campaign liaison who helps us organize.”
Representatives from various political groups on campus said they agreed that Dartmouth is conveniently located to play a role in the fall election.
“New Hampshire is an important state every time an election comes around,” Schulman said. “Dartmouth, like all campuses across the state of New Hampshire, is a very active campus.”
The College provides a good opportunity for people to come together and build on the enthusiasm that each school has to offer, according to Schulman.
“A big part about attending Dartmouth is being in such a unique position for political involvement,” Lewis said. “It is not just about the education, but other parts of maturing as young members of society — that’s what sets Dartmouth apart from other schools.”
Brog said he was confident that the College Democrats and other political groups would be successful in re-electing Obama this fall.
“We are confident that President Obama’s record on issues students care about, our campaign infrastructure and our energy will propel us to victory in November,” Brog said. “Additionally, students wanted to end the war in Iraq, bid farewell to ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,’ and ensure that all Americans have high-quality, affordable health care — all promises that the president has delivered on.”
Robert Smith ’14, vice president of the College Republicans, said the College Republicans are hoping to use the summit to open up debate and establish dialogue with different groups.
“It was really encouraging to see students get excited about the [Republican] debate in the fall, but it often seems like too many people are preoccupied with schoolwork and see politics as something off in the distance,” Smith said. “When the actual election comes around though, this place is going to be crazy.”
This election focuses primarily on the economy, according to Smith.
“All young voters, regardless of whether they are in the workforce or not, recognize that we will need to enter it at some point and become concerned when they see a rise in entitlement programs and deficits,” he said.
All of this organizing and good time Obama BS is really great, but as one who has knocked on thousands and thousands of doors and made thousands of calls myself, knocking “on over 1,000 doors and making hundreds of calls” is pitiful. This campaign announcement as a news item is bothersome. The Obama campaign should have to pay for an ad like this and then people would know that it is a campaign ad. What are the Aires and Rockapellas doing at a partisan political campaign event? I didn’t know that supposedly non-political Dartmouth groups, supported with College money and with the imprimatur of the College were allowed in their charter to come out to support a political campaign. This is the equivalent of rolling out the football team to support the Gingrich campaign by playing a benefit football game for him so that he can beat the Aires and Rockapellas who are supporting Obama. Is the College officially endorsing Obama this year?
By Kim on Feb 21 | 11:31 am
@Kim – The Aires and the Rocks are student-run groups who receive no funding from the college. As student groups, they are allowed to support whatever political message they choose to support. This is absolutely nothing like the football team coming out to support a campaign, because the football team receives money from the school and is run by adults who are employees of the College. So no, Dartmouth is not supporting Obama.
By ‘15 on Feb 21 | 11:07 pm
Is it the Aires or the Dartmouth Aires? If they don’t represent the College and have no relationship to it, then I think they should be able to do whatever they want politically and that is what they are doing. Sing, dance, raise money, volunteer and recruit for the Obama campaign. The Obama campaign is using them and they like it.
By Bobo on Feb 22 | 12:37 pm
Thank you ‘15, the Aires and Rocks are left wing singing groups. No problem. I notice that they are all in on the Green Movement, Global Warming and Progressive Activities. Since President Obama is the current head of the left, it makes sense that they are organizing for him. I didn’t know they were political, now I do. Have a good one. Who are their backers? Is that public knowledge? George Soros helping to fund the Aires with donations?
By Kim on Feb 22 | 1:07 pm
Neither the Rocks nor Aires have “backers”. Both groups raise money by touring around the world and selling CDs and t-shirts. And neither group is establishing themselves as ‘political’ by doing a show for an Obama event. Why does this bother you so much? It would be one thing if the groups were going to the event to perform songs with a politically charged message, but this is not the case. It’s highly likely that the groups will be singing songs such as the National Anthem and the Dartmouth alma mater. The Rocks in particular always sing a song devoted to social justice, which is something that does not apply to party lines. Unless you are anti-freedom, stop acting like this is some defiant political statement that the a cappella groups are making, when they’re simply providing entertainment at an on-campus event.
By ‘15 on Feb 22 | 10:37 pm
No “backers”? Really? Nothing political about the Obama re-election campaign and recruitment training event. If Rick Santorum’s campaign showed up for a Dartmouth campus training event for his election campaign, that would NOT be political for the Rocks and Aires to appear and sing. The Rocks sing about “Social Justice” which isn’t political, even though that is the politics of the Obama campaign. Look up the definition of “social justice.” “The distribution of advantages and disadvantages in a society.” That means that someone is taking them from some people and giving them to other people. That is anti-freedom because they are not asking the people they are taking the “advantages” from if they can take them, they are taking them by force. The D supports the Obama re-election campaign, non-political on campus-event. If the Aires and Rocks are likely to sing the National Anthem and the alma mater, that isn’t political and I’m sure it white-washes the politics out of the Obama re-election campaign training and recruiting event, aren’t you?
By Kim on Feb 26 | 1:22 am