You'd have to go back in history to 1928 to find the last time the U.S. presidential field was as open as it is in 2008. And it was in the state of Iowa, holding the first presidential caucus in the nation on Jan. 3, that history was again made: With nearly twice the turnout of 2004's caucuses, U.S. Senator Barack Obama became the first African-American to win Iowa for a major political party.
Historic, too, was the opportunity for St. Ambrose students to be on the front lines of several candidates' campaigns-or at least to get to know the presidential hopefuls up close and personal as the candidates crisscrossed the state over the summer and fall.
Recent graduate Erin Hannigan worked seven days a week as a field organizer for Obama, her candidate of choice. Juan Thompson, a New Yorker, enrolled at St. Ambrose specifically so he could pound the pavement for U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign in Davenport.
The 60-member, student-run Ambrosians for Obama lobbied the university to allow students to stay in their own rooms on campus at no extra charge the night of Jan. 3 so they could participate in the caucuses. "We wanted to encourage students to caucus where they'll be voting in the general election in November," says the organization's president, Nick Colwell, a junior from Davenport.
Among those students who returned to campus specifically to caucus was junior Katelynn Krahn. The Illinois native drove in from Chicago the morning of Jan. 3 with her mother and sister. "They wanted to come and watch to see how it all plays out," Katelynn shouted above the din at the Obama campaign's Davenport headquarters, where she'd gone to pitch in on caucus day.
She was equal parts nervous and excited. "This may the only chance I'll have in my life to be involved in this process."
Indeed, getting involved-whomever one chooses to support-is what it's all
about, so far as Nick is concerned. With the presidential election in November, Ambrose students will have the opportunity to change the direction of America, and so change history.
In fact, Nick is willing to make a prediction of his own: that, come next fall, "The debate at St. Ambrose will definitely step up, and the campus will come alive politically."
-J. O'Donnell
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