The hours are long, the pay often comes in experience and letters of recommendation, and doing the dirty work can mean anything from chalking pavement to spying on enemy stump speeches.
They're out working for candidates and political issues, they're performing mundane tasks and they're having the time of their lives.
This semester, hundreds of University students are adding hours of political work for Campaign '96 to their already hectic schedules.
Choosing a cause
By the time LSA senior Karen Sommer was choosing between the three campaigns courting her for the '96 race, she knew her candidate would have to offer more than a paycheck and a resume boost.
"I'd like to say that I'll never be working for a candidate, ever, that I don't believe in," said Sommer, who is taking a semester off from the University to work as a press assistant on U.S. Sen. Carl Levin's (D-Mich.) re-election campaign.
Sommer hasn't always followed this philosophy. Her first glance into the political arena was eye-opening and helped her develop guidelines for choosing campaigns and offices, she said.
A high school internship sent Sommer to the office of a North Carolina Republican for an experience that "taught me a hell of a lot about myself," she said. Sommer said that although there was plenty of time for interoffice banter when she disagreed with the representative's policies, she had no opportunity to affect his opinion or legislation.
"I think that's when I learned I would never do that again," Sommer said.
Sommer said her realization came as she was wading through her usual office duties of sorting mail and doing clerical work.
"When I was reading what his constituents thanked him for, a lot of his constituents thanked him for his anti-choice votes. (I realized that) indirectly, I was helping this man out," said Sommer, a pro-choice advocate. "I couldn't compromise my values for an employer."
Sommer said her "first real hands-on experience with politics" was a sobering experience that makes this year's campaign choice all the more significant.
"I'm dedicating my life this semester to a man who most everything he votes for I'm in favor (of)," Sommer said.
Some students don't devote themselves to only one candidate; they work for multiple candidates from a single party.
College Republicans President Nicholas Kirk is one such student. He works with Regent Deane Baker (R-Ann Arbor), who is running for a fifth term, Republican Regent candidate Mike Bishop and Republican Joe Fitzsimmons, who is running for U.S. House against Rep. Lynn Rivers (D-Ann Arbor).
"(The College Republicans) are also assisting in the Dole/Kemp campaign," Kirk said.
Some students don't even narrow their interests down to a single party - instead, they tackle issues through special interest groups organized nationally and locally.
SNRE senior Ami Grace is just now beginning to see the effects of her election-year work, several months after her official duties ended. Grace worked as a summer intern for the Sierra Club in Washington, D.C., researching and compiling information for candidate endorsements the group releases before each election.
The interviews, benefit breakfasts with candidates and time around Capitol Hill gave her a new perspective on the connection between politics and issues such as the environment, Grace said.
"You kind of see the involvement in politics as actually an issue there," Grace said. "Environmentalists are getting more and more into the political realm because they're finding it's the best way to get their political voices heard."
At the University, Grace is also active in Environmental Action, which has played a part in Voice Your Vote voter registration drives, environmental information dissemination and was instrumental in bringing the Sierra Club's national president to campus last night.
Leave of Absence
Some students just can't squeeze in enough campaign strategies and candidate policy platforms between classes. Especially in a presidential election year, the temptation is great to forego exams and classes for a semester and experience "real politics."
"My parents weren't ecstatic about it," said LSA senior Andy Schor, who is taking a semester off from University classes to work for the state of Michigan's chapter of the Clinton/Gore Coordinated Campaign.
Schor said since extra credits would have allowed him to graduate a semester early if he had enrolled for fall term, he "really had nothing to lose."
Sommer said she faced a similar decision this fall.
"(The question was) do I find a campaign to work on or do I graduate in December and wait tables or something for a semester?"
The experience of working on a large-scale political campaign outweighs the drawbacks for Schor and Sommer, but Schor said the decision to leave the Diag and Ann Arbor coffee shops behind for a semester definitely required consideration on all sides.
"The cons were the time, and I wouldn't be able to see my friends - I was dating someone who I wasn't going to see very much," Schor said.
"It's full time - and full time means 24 hours a day, seven days a week," he said.
Just because she doesn't have midterms this semester doesn't mean Sommer has taken a vacation from gathering knowledge and information.
"I'm taking a semester off from the University of Michigan. I'm not at all taking the semester off from learning," Sommer said.
Political theory can't prepare you for everything workers encounter on the campaign trail, Schor said..
"What you learn in class and what you see on a campaign are 180-degree efforts," Schor said. "They don't tell you in class that when you go out to get out the vote you have to have food - the practicalities."
Where it all happens
Republicans and Democrats alike said student volunteers are critical to campaigns.
"It really helps us a lot," said Lakitia Mayo, Rivers' volunteer coordinator. "They help us with everything."
Mayo said that about 250 volunteers are working in the Church Street office. She said some commit 40 hours each week and others can only fit in a few hours here and there, but all are invaluable.
Even as election day gets closer, Mayo said new volunteers continue to pour in.
But Ann Arbor isn't the center of student activism.
Plenty of students are volunteering in Lansing as well, said Susan Schafer, a spokesperson for the Michigan Dole/Kemp campaign.
Schafer said hundreds of students have come into the office to help out with events, phone calls, faxing and everything else, including organizing campaign tail-gate parties.
"It's not very glamorous, but every little bit helps," Schafer said. "We do rely on them a lot."
Schafer said everyone is impressed by the loyalty and enthusiasm of the student volunteers.
"They're really a gung-ho bunch of people," Schafer said. "The response to the campaign has been great."
The location of the campaign office, about a mile from Michigan State University's campus, is a big bonus, Schafer said. "Students come in and the next time they bring a lot of friends."
MARGARET MYERS/Daily
Amy Phung and Jessica Wank, members of the College Republicans, chalk GOP campaign messages outside of Angell Hall just after midnight Monday, Sept. 29. Chalking is one of several ways in which University students have participated in local and national political campaigns this fall.
JOSH BIGGS/Daily
Laura Seigal and Sara Deneweth take part in a phone survey sponsored by the Michigan Democratic Party at the Michigan Teachers Credit Union on Jackson Road Tuesday evening. Volunteers asked voters how they stand on various political issues.