Everything from family tradition to fear of Newt Gingrich brought more than 100 young Democrats to the College Democrats' mass meeting on campus last night.
The University's chapter of the College Democrats hosted Amy Chapman, director of the Clinton/Gore Michigan Coordinated Campaign, and close to 10 other campaign representatives from across the state to recruit students for the group's main cause this semester - electing Democrats.
"The U-M is usually one of the most active college campuses," said Chapman, who asked each of the more than 130 students in the audience to state their motivations for attending the meeting.
The answers Chapman received ranged from students who "just like to argue" to students who had served as pages in Washington, D.C., or precinct delegates to party conventions.
LSA sophomore Patricia Donnellan served as a precinct delegate in Flint this fall by convincing three "strangers" outside her polling site to vote for her.
Donnellan said her father asked family members to write in his name on the ballot for the three votes he needed to be elected. This electoral power is what excited Donnellan about the political process, she said.
Donnellan and her father were both elected as precinct delegates.
"I was really excited that I could get involved in politics by only three people supporting me," she said.
Chapman and College Dems Chair Jae Jae Spoon encouraged potential volunteers to take up local causes and elections, despite the banners and T-shirts national campaigns promise.
"(The local races) really count on us," Spoon said. "They're not as big and glamorous as the president - but they're important."
Spoon and current College Dems have already been visible on campus this semester in a less partisan capacity. Members of College Dems have joined Voice Your Vote, a University student group, to promote voter registration. Spoon said volunteers have registered more than 3,200 students in the first two weeks of school.
Politicians are targeting young voters and volunteers to get the votes they need this fall, said RC first-year student Rebecca Bercun.
"(Young people are) an essential part of the voting process," Bercun said.
KRISTEN SCHAEFER/Daily
Amy Chapman, director of the Michigan Clinton/Gore Coordinated Campaign, speaks with College Democrats during their first mass meeting.