Working on the campaign trail

Two MSU students take on commitment of campaigning in addition to school work

By Sarah Harbison (Last updated: 10/21/08 10:24pm)

As if being a student didn’t promise enough sleep deprivation, throw in another full-time job: Campaigning. With 13 days to go until Election Day, many MSU student campaigners are feeling the crunch of the last month of campaign season. It’s not exactly a 9-to-5 job with cushy office perks.

In order to convey their message to voters, campaigners must be on their feet and at the doorsteps. For students, this is a balancing act between their job and passion and the logistical aspects of an education. For two MSU students, the campaign trail has taken a local turn and along the road, they’ve each had their ups and downs.

Campaigning for students, by students

After covering all the floors of West Holmes Hall, Brad Dennis was just about done campaigning for the day Thursday.

He, along with a volunteer, hopped into the elevator on the sixth floor ready to head out. There, he saw someone wearing a McCain-Palin T-shirt and offered him some information on his own campaign.

Even on an elevator, Dennis is always on the job. The international relations sophomore is running on the Republican ticket for the 10th District seat on the Ingham County Board of Commissioners.

Democratic incumbent Mark Grebner is running against 19-year-old Dennis for the seat.

Dennis, a Fenton native, said he is most interested in local politics and now considers East Lansing his home.

“I vote here and participate in local politics and this is the area that is going to be affecting me for the next decade,” he said. So I think it’s valuable to not only myself, but the rest of the students that are planning on living here for the next four to 10 years, to get involved and to make sure they know what’s happening around them, to make sure that they are not just standing by as somebody else makes the decisions that are going to affect their lives.”

It’s a campaign with little funding and a lot of hours. Dennis said his goal is to speak to each student who lives in the dorms and off campus within the district at least two times before Election Day.

“It’s a good opportunity to get around and to meet all the different students on campus. You really get to know people and know what the student population is thinking. (But) it’s a lot to try to handle campaigning eight hours day, trying to talk to 1,500 people every day before the election,” he said.

“If they see your face and they realize that you’re there to listen and if that’s how you’re acting during the two months before the election then if you get two years in office then just imagine the communication that’s going to be there.”

A typical day for Dennis starts by waking up extra early to do school work and going to class until about noon. From there, he campaigns until dark. Currently, he is taking 13 credits.

“Everybody makes fun of me for it, but I normally wake up between 6 and 7 o’clock every day, even my weekends, which isn’t always the most fun. Which then requires me to get to sleep pretty early, too, so everybody kind of thinks that’s funny. I’m known as the old person on the floor,” Dennis said.

Brittany Hartmann, a political theory and constitutional democracy freshman, occasionally helps Dennis with his campaign by going door to door with him and passing out literature.

Hartmann found out about Dennis’ self-run campaign through her involvement in the MSU College Republicans and MSU Students for John McCain. She is now volunteering for his campaign about once a week.

“I really want to see Brad Dennis win this,” Hartmann said. “I believe he knows what’s best for this county and I know he knows how to bring about its success.”

Although there are many students at MSU who won’t be voting in East Lansing, that doesn’t stop Dennis from knocking on their doors.

“I’m going to be campaigning to every person in the dorms — say one out of three people is actually going to be able to vote for me,” he said. “It’s not going to hurt me to campaign to people who can’t vote for me, because if I can get them talking about it then they talk to their suitemates about it and they talk to their friends. You just have to get the stir going about the campaign.”

Students leading the way

In a canvassing session in Delhi Township, Andrew Gerlach and a volunteer-in-training went door to door hoping to educate voters about their candidate — Bob Alexander.

Alexander is running on the Democratic ticket for Michigan’s 8th district U.S. House of Representatives seat against Republican incumbent Mike Rogers, of Brighton.

Gerlach, a political theory and international relations junior, has decided to reverse his roles during election season. He is currently a full-time campaigner serving as the Ingham County field director for Alexander and a part-time student.

“I do have a Spanish class that takes up some of my time, but the rest of my time is devoted fully to the campaign,” said Gerlach, 20, of Bloomfield Township. “I wake up, I think about the campaign. I eat, I think about the campaign. Before I campaign, I still think about different ways of campaigning.

“It’s sort of an all-consuming task.”

His job is considered full-time, but he works more than 40 hours a week. He calls his job a “waking hours” position.

“It increases exponentially the closer we get to the election,” he said.

Each day of work is different for Gerlach — something that is a blessing and a curse. There are some standard activities, though, including phone calling for fundraising and attempting to canvass as much as possible.

“It’s sort of a hard job because you don’t have as many rules and as many regulations. There’s not always someone pointing you in the right direction. Sort of that freedom to do what you think is best and the obligation to sort of earn your own keep that sort of drives you forward,” Gerlach said.

“There are some days I wake up and I realize ‘Oh, I didn’t plan enough canvassing for today. I don’t have any volunteers for the day. What am I actually going to do for the day?’ There are some days where I have to figure out within two or three hours how I am going to be productive in campaigning.”

Alexander said his campaign would not survive without the students involved in it.

“The way I could get some students involved is that they could have major leadership roles in this campaign, either for pay or as a volunteer,” Alexander said. “Whereas with so many volunteers for the Obama campaign it’s hard to become a leader. So we’re fortunate to have these students come on board. They are doing serious stuff.”

About 10 students have leadership roles in Alexander’s campaign, he said. Gerlach joined the campaign in May, when Alexander hired him as a part-time worker.

Gerlach’s politics started with the 2004 election. However, his active role in the political realm began when he moved to East Lansing.

“I had a political theory professor tell me once that almost no one votes for their local school board candidate, but they probably have a bigger impact on your life than anyone else you vote for on your local ticket,” he said. “It is the local ordinances that really have a bigger effect on your everyday life.”

Eventually, Gerlach said he would like to do work involving policy. But right now, he’s enjoying the job he has.

“I wake up every day excited to go to work, I go home every day excited about what I did at work,” Gerlach said.

“It’s not like going to an office and sitting at a desk, it’s like every day you have this world of possibilities in front of you and it’s yours to do with what you will.”

Originally Published: 10/21/08 8:58pm