Students from college campuses around the state gathered in Manchester this weekend for the New Hampshire convention of the College Democrats of America. The conference featured speeches from prominent New Hampshire Democrats as well as workshops on campaign strategies for the upcoming primary elections.
Adam Patinkin '07, president of the College Democrats of New Hampshire, opened the convention with a recap of the organization's activities in 2006 and 2007, highlighting the role the College Democrats played in turning the state from red to blue. Patinkin, along with vice president Nick Christiansen, a senior at the University of New Hampshire, discussed goals for the upcoming year, which included aims for the important New Hampshire primary elections in the fall.
"It is an exciting time to be a College Democrat in New Hampshire," Patinkin said. "We have barely scratched the surface of what we can, and will, do."
Patinkin, accompanied by Mike Heslin '08, president of the Dartmouth College Democrats, later led a workshop on campaign strategy. The pair outlined the plan used by Dartmouth to get out the vote during the 2006 congressional elections, which included canvassing by dormitories and driving students to polls on election day.
"At Dartmouth we got an 80 percent turnout on election day with a poll that was over a mile away and a town clerk that refused to come on campus to register students," Patinkin said. "If we get 80 percent turnout on every campus in the state we will destroy the College Republicans. They won't even come close."
The convention featured keynote speeches from Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H., the first woman elected to national office in New Hampshire's history, and Ned Lamont, whose campaign for U.S. Senate in 2006, which ultimately failed, is widely regarded as a triumph for netroots politics.
The conference included a discussion on student activism led by Rep. David Pierce, D-Grafton, as well as workshops on topics such as student voting and fundraising. David Mason, who was the 2006 campaign finance director for Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., urged the state's College Democrats chapters to raise $10,000 for the upcoming primary campaigns.
"Contain your expectations and set public and private goals. Tell people you plan on raising 5,000, so when you come back with 10, everyone is surprised," Mason said. "Money turns into votes when you get the message right."
New Hampshire Reps. Mike Brunelle, D-Manchester, Andy Edwards, D-Nashua, Jeff Fontas, D-Nashua, and Scott Merrick, D-Lancaster, led a discussion on running for office when young. All four representatives are currently completing undergraduate degrees.
"The best representative of you is yourself," Fontas said. "You have to be the voice you want to hear."
Representatives from the New Hampshire offices of the different democratic presidential campaigns also attended the conference on behalf of their respective candidates, with the hopes of garnering endorsement from the state's College Democrats chapters.
