Iowa Students Help Drive Election Bus

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http://www.suntimes.com/news/hunter/295655,CST-NWS-hunter14.article


Sun-Times | March 14, 2007
By Jennifer Hunter

DES MOINES -- Just after his presidential announcement in Springfield, Barack Obama winged his way to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He spoke at John F. Kennedy High School, and when the speech ended and a few hands were shaken, he and his wife, Michelle, were whisked away. They scooted aboard a yellow school bus full of college-aged Democrats. The Obamas spent an hour driving with the 25 students from 10 Iowa colleges, chewing over policy issues such as the war in Iraq and munching on trail mix.

The students had expected to meet with one of Obama's aides and were stunned when they got the real deal. "The cool thing about it was that it was the day he announced and after all the people he could have had meetings with, he was meeting us, college Democrats," recalls Patrick Rynard of Drake University.

When the ride ended at Waterloo, Rynard passed Obama a binder of suggestions about how to woo the student vote. Later, an Obama aide flashed Rynard's binder, then coyly wouldn't tell anyone what was in it.

Scholarly advice

A few phone calls led me to Rynard, president of the College Democrats of Iowa, and he wasn't loath to talk about his advice to Obama when we met on the Drake campus Monday. The thoughtful 21-year-old political science senior has spent a lot of time figuring out how to organize students. His directives to Obama come from three years of intense involvement with the Drake Democrats, volunteering with John Kerry and a stint in Gov. Tom Vilsack's office.

He has seen how powerful student support in Iowa can be and recalls how the vote of Grinnell College students had a sobering effect on incumbent Republican state Rep. Danny Carroll, who was trounced in last November's election by Democrat Eric Palmer.