Off-year political activism

It's Wednesday afternoon, and a group of Princeton students find themselves in a row house in the heart of Trenton, calling strangers. If we're lucky, the strangers who answer tell us who they will vote for in the upcoming local elections; if not they chastise us for disturbing them and hang up. But most of the time, people are not home. A few College Democrats and I are phone banking — calling registered voters — to ask whether they know who they'll vote for. The candidate we're asking on behalf of this time is Jeff Grayzel, a Democrat running for a Township Committee seat in Morris Township. Never heard of him or Morris Township? I hadn't either until now.

Phone banking is not sexy. But it's one of the small, necessary tasks involved in every election.

As both Republicans and Democrats prepare for the 2008 elections, all eyes are on the presidential race. College students display their love for Hillary, Obama, Rudy or McCain in facebook.com groups. It's easy to forget smaller elections when the media and the hype follow the national elections. Yet, it is exactly during these off years when volunteering matters the most. College students can get the most mileage out of their campaigning, as well as make the biggest difference, during local elections.

In the 2006 midterm elections, for example, Tom Brown '07 organized a group of six Princeton who canvassed — knocked on doors of registered voters — for then congressional candidate Patrick Murphy of Bucks County, Pa. He won by 1,500 votes. These six volunteers made a huge difference in his campaign. And that was for an actual House seat. The impact is even greater on a smaller scale. In contrast, larger elections lose some volunteers in the shuffle. Sen. Bob Menendez' (D-N.J.) campaign this last fall, for example, routinely sent out canvassers who weren't sure what seat he was running for.

Because college students can make a bigger difference in smaller elections, we are better rewarded when it comes time for the more glamorous jobs. Opportunities to campaign are more manageable in off years. Students can pick and choose which election they'd like to work on. There's no pressure to work solely for a candidate who you may or may not like. Voters are less knowledgeable, but they are also not overwhelmed by a barrage of literature and phone calls from both sides. People like to know that the party thinks about them during lesser elections as well.

When it comes down to it, it's much easier to do work, hang out with friends or do almost anything else than phone bank on a Wednesday evening or canvass on a Sunday afternoon. College students, always on the prowl for resume builders, should learn to embrace working on elections as an investment. The spoils system pays off. Volunteering for the local elections at a time when the hired operatives of the Democratic National Committee or the Republican National Committee are more relaxed means closer contact with the people who can then connect you to the juicier elections up ahead. The New Jersey Democratic State Committee, for example, is already endorsing Sen. Hillary Clinton. Young volunteers are primed for working on future Clinton events. Just last Monday, four Princeton students had their pictures taken with Senator Clinton when she stopped for a fundraiser in Lawrenceville, N.J. Next year, the opportunities will be greater when we get closer to the elections.

Though I may be overly optimistic, volunteering for campaigns is fun. Aside from the cliched reason of spending time with a group of friends, it also lets you in on the perpetual drama of New Jersey elections. Remember the back-and-forth slandering between senatorial candidates Tom Kean, Jr. and Menendez last fall? The name calling and bribery actually never ends. U.S. attorney Chris Christie's recent investigation into a string of New Jersey corruption scandals has brought further notoriety to N.J. politics. So far, he's aimed his investigation at Democrats for the most part. Now there's heated debate over Christie's intentions. Recently, Gov. Jon Corzine asked ethics advisers to look to see if his romantic relationship with union leader Carla Katz affected his relations with labor interests. Who doesn't want a little piece of this action?

It's easy to choose other activities over political endeavors. And yet, isn't political participation exactly the type of thing Princeton students can do to be "in the nation's service?" To help encourage more people to be politically active, the University could provide funding for students who want to campaign. One thing it could do is fund Fall Break campaign trips. A week-long excursion to Atlantic City this coming October to work on a competitive race could be a fun and useful time for all students — Democrat or Republican. Cindy Hong is the campaign coordinator for the College Democrats. She may be reached at cindyh@princeton.edu.