Mike Tierney '99, Hanover coordinator for Republican presidential hopeful Morry Taylor, did not think it would be a good idea for the candidate to speak at Dartmouth the evening of Feb. 3, so it was rescheduled.
Feb. 3 was a Saturday, and Tierney realized that no college students would go see a political speech at 8 p.m. on a weekend evening.
Tierney talked the Taylor campaign into moving the candidate's visit from Saturday to early the following week -- a date when Taylor had been previously scheduled to be in Iowa.
They say politics is contagious and Dartmouth seems to prove it. An assemblage of Dartmouth students -- underclassmen, seniors, alumni and even graduate students -- become involved in the campaigns during primary season and stay on through the presidential race the next fall.
This year, the Republican campaigns are dominating the show, since President Bill Clinton faces no major Democratic challengers in the primaries.
Jacks-of-all-trades
From door to door campaigning to running the whole show in New Hampshire, Dartmouth students and alumni find themselves performing an array of tasks for their respective candidates.
Most of the students working on campaigns are in charge of getting their candidates' message out at Dartmouth and making sure that campaign events -- both on and off campus -- are well-attended.
Seniors Mark Cicirelli and Isaac Thorne perform these types of tasks for their candidate, Texas Senator Phil Gramm.
"A lot of it is us helping the campaign wherever they need a crowd," Cicirelli said.
In January, Cicirelli and Thorne arranged for Gramm to ride down to a Manchester rally in a bus filled with Dartmouth students.
The Gramm campaign wanted the Senator to be seen with college students in New Hampshire, Cicirelli said, so naturally it looked to Dartmouth.
Coordinating such events involves "a lot of blitzing -- either that or you're on the phone," Thorne said.
Thorne said they managed to corral enough students by going through the Conservative Union at Dartmouth, of which both he and Cicirelli are executive officers. Often more aware of what will catch a student's eye than older albeit more experienced campaigners, some students serve as a liaison between Dartmouth and other New Hampshire campaign offices.
Chris Swift '98 vice president of the Young Democrats at Dartmouth, has worked for the Clinton campaign, coordinating the Dartmouth campaign with the Hanover and Manchester offices.
Swift said his job has given him the opportunity to be involved in some old-fashioned campaigning.
"We have run a series of literature drops," he said.
"What we have here is an opportunity to do some real retail politics," he said, referring to the idea of bringing the message to the people.
Other students have focused their efforts on campaign events and activities on campus and around Hanover.
Sean Cunningham '97 is the Dartmouth coordinator for Kansas Senator Bob Dole's campaign. He said he spent a lot of time coordinating Dole's visit to the College last month.
"I have made phone calls, attended rallies, delivered literature and spoken to neighbors on behalf," of the campaign, he said.
"I have also worked hard to find Dole supporters on campus, who have made phone calls, attended rallies, delivered literature and spoken to neighbors on behalf of Senator Dole," he said.
Brad Davis '99 is the student coordinator for publisher Steve Forbes' campaign at Dartmouth. Like Cunningham, he said his job boils down to getting interested people information about upcoming events and prodding them to attend.
"There are a lot of supporters, but I generally handle informing them of events, getting them to attend them," he said.
Other students serve as a jack-of-all-trades for their candidates.
Michael Wiles '96, who is in charge of Lamar Alexander's campaign at Dartmouth, said he does whatever Alexander's office in Manchester asks him to do.
"That includes holding a video party, posting signs, attending rallies or helping out in the office in Manchester," Wiles said.
Michael New '97 is the student coordinator for the Alan Keyes campaign. He said his campaign responsibilities are limited since Keyes does not have the financial backing of some of the other Republicans running and cannot afford to stage that many events.
"I attempted to raise money for the New Hampshire campaign," New said. "I have attended some events where I assisted the state coordinators."
New said he also distributed campaign information to interested students and is "doing some advance work to publicize Keyes campus visit on Feb. 19."
With a little more experience, Dartmouth graduate students and alumni take on more responsibilities in their candidates' campaigns.
After his interest in politics was piqued as a student at the College, Tom Rath '67 remained interested in politics and is currently the New Hampshire chairman of Alexander's campaign and one of Alexander's senior national advisers.
His responsibilities include, "things like, what the campaign message is going to be or how we deal with the media," he said.
He said although his job does not include a lot of the day-to-day operations of the campaign, he did travel with Alexander when he came to Dartmouth last term.
Having spent less time in politics than Rath, Dennis O'Connor '89 is the New Hampshire press secretary for the Gramm campaign.
O'Connor said he spends most of his 14-hour days at work arranging interviews for the candidate and writing press releases.
"I will serve as the point person with the media. Tell them where he is going to be, give them any information they might need ... It's pretty intense," he said.
But those who are still taking classes have a little less time to spend campaigning.
Warren Pinkerton is enrolled in the College's Master's Degree in Liberal Studies program, and in his spare time works for the Forbes campaign as the chairman of the Hanover leadership council.
Pinkerton said his responsibilities include coordinating the activities of Dartmouth students and local volunteers and working in conjunction with the Forbes campaign in the rest of New Hampshire.
That involves, "setting up a mutually conducive time, finding the proper spot, including seating, hard wiring for the press, parking, security, advertising, new service releases," he said. Pinkerton said he also set up Forbes' two previous visits to the College and is working on arranging one for later this week.
Getting your foot in the back door
As a student, getting your foot in the backdoor of politics is not too difficult.
Becoming the Hanover campaign manager for Morry Taylor was more of a coincidence than anything else, Tierney said.
He went to a Taylor speech last term on campus and took Taylor's advice, he said.
"I went to the speech and at the end he said if you want to help me out then call 1-800-USA-BEAR," he said. "I called and they offered me a job."
Tierney said he was also offered a seat at the national convention but was denied because he was not a registered voter in New Hampshire at the time he applied.
Davis said he became head of the Forbes campaign after he heard two Forbes representatives speak at a CUAD meeting.
"I had been interested in Forbes' campaign before, and I talked to them about helping out," he said.
After consulting with the Forbes people and with CUAD president Thorne, he was offered the job.
Thorne and Cicirelli also took an active role in landing their jobs.
As a Gramm supporter "for years," Thorne said he got in touch with the Manchester office of the campaign and offered his services.
Cicirelli said he always knew he wanted to become involved in the New Hampshire primaries.
"As a government major and as a Republican, I knew for quite a long time I wanted to be actively involved in the New Hampshire primary in 1996," he said.
That interest and a little research led to his current position, he said.
"In the summer of 1995 I sent letters to the campaigns of those candidates I would have liked to work for," Cicirelli said. "Soon thereafter I accepted an invitation to coordinate Senator Gramm's campaign at Dartmouth."
After Gramm's withdrawal from the race yesterday, Cicirelli said he was "disappointed that Gramm's candidacy wasn't more successful ... but I'm sure that Gramm will continue to speak out on the issues, so it's not a complete loss."
O'Connor's path to political participation was not as deliberate.
While an undergraduate, O'Connor said he did not have much of an interest in politics.
"I wasn't sure what I was going to do [after graduation] and then I read about this guy in Arizona [Arizona Governor Fyfe Symington] and I went to work out there and got caught up in it," he explained.
Pinkerton said he got involved with the campaign in "the tradition of old-time politics."
He called Forbes' office in Manchester, described his "interests ideas and qualifications," and after a brief meeting was offered his job, he said.
Rath said his involvement in the Alexander campaign was an extension of his friendship with the candidate.
"It just seemed natural that I sit down and chat with him when he was considering whether or not to run," he said.
A part of American political history
All of the students working for campaigns say that what inspires them to become involved is not resume-padding or anything equally cynical, but a sense of doing what is right.
Swift said he thinks the most important reason to get involved in politics is that "you believe in what you are doing, believe in your candidate and believe in his message."
Although Wiles might disagree with Swift's politics, he seems to share his idealism.
"I am working for Alexander's campaign because his ideology most nearly approximates my own," Wiles said. "I decided to become involved out of a general sense of responsibility."
Cunningham cited the importance of the work he was doing for Dole as his reason for becoming involved in the campaign.
"To be an active part of this process is to be a small -- but surely significant -- part of American political history," he said.
Tierney said he became involved with the campaign because he thinks that, "one voice raised does really matter. It becomes even more powerful when all are silent. Regretfully, the political game will have a drastic effect on our future ... but it is my future and therefore I want to play a part."
Tierney said he considered all of the candidates and put a lot of thought into deciding which candidate to support in the race.
He said he considered what each candidate said he stood for and supported Taylor because "he is a hard worker, honest, stubborn as a mule as well as addressing a platform no other candidate does."
Others are motivated to become involved in campaigns by equally compelling but more simple reasons.
Davis said he is working on the Forbes campaign because he simply enjoys politics.
"I enjoy politics, and was glad to have the opportunity to help out on a campaign with such a fresh message," Davis said. "It's been an exciting learning experience."
Achieving positive results
Though working towards such lofty goals, student campaigners must also keep their feet on the ground and manage to balance their political work with their school work.
"I don't have much time for myself," after working on Clinton's campaign, Swift said. "It's difficult work, it takes many hours and it takes up the weekends."
"Working in a campaign really forces you to organize your time and how you spend it," he said.
Cicirelli said it is difficult to escape his work for Gramm's campaign. "It's always there, hanging over your head," he said.
"None of the individual things to be done are huge, but it is sometimes difficult to get done when you've got papers and class," he said.
Tierney said often times the work he does for the campaign spills over into his private life.
"As all of my friends will tell you, social life, as well as some classes, is magically transformed into political discussion, which, they soon realize will continue till they see the light," he joked.
Although the hours they put in are sometimes long, Cunningham said he thinks his time commitment to the Dole campaign is worthwhile.
"Positive results are directly proportional to time spent pursuing them," he said, referring to the amount of time he has spent working for the campaign.
But while they spend a considerable portion of their time working on the campaign, students said their message is not necessarily received well by their fellow students.
"Dartmouth is like most schools," Thorne said. "Students are apathetic on the whole towards politics.
Tierney said his experiences have led him to believe that students feel unaffected by politics.
"They'll put their name on a blitz list, but that's about it," he said. "As far as politics is concerned, it just doesn't affect them." Cicirelli said he feels that Dartmouth students put politics at the end of their list of priorities because of the many other commitments they have.
"Most people are too concerned with other things to become too deeply involved in politics, and this expresses itself as either apathy or cynicism," he said.
But he said there are some students who are concerned about politics and show interest in the New Hampshire primary.
"There are a healthy number of politically interested people here. Large audiences have come to hear the candidates speak when they have come to campus. In the conservative union, quite a few people have come forward asking to become involved in one of the various campaigns," Cicirelli said.
Davis said in his experience organizing the Forbes campaign, he has met many students who genuinely care about what is going on in the world of presidential politics.
"The support on campus for Forbes has been very strong," he said. "Signs and literature are popping up all over, and hardly a day goes by that I don't meet someone new who wants to get involved with the campaign."
Future aspirations
Most of the students involved in campaigns say that, having seen firsthand what candidates go through, they would think twice about running for office.
"I've seen Mr. Forbes and those who have worked with him--myself included -- be raked over the coals so much, called so many ridiculous things, have so many baseless accusations brought against them, that it would be very difficult to subject myself to that sort of thing," Davis said.
Reflecting on his experiences with Keyes' campaign, New expressed a similar sentiment. He said he considers himself too outspoken to be a successful political candidate.
"I don't plan on running for elective office in the future, mainly because I would make a terrible politician," he said. "I tend to say what I think and I don't like to compromise."
Others were definitely planning to pursue careers in politics.
Tierney said, "Sure I'll settle for Senate or Congress or a history teacher, but it is always good to set your goals at the top, and I have had becoming president as my goal ever since first grade."
