With the race for both major parties' 2008 presidential nominations already underway, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has already emerged as a Democratic frontrunner, in large part because of his grassroots support in residential communities and on college campuses. Princeton has now officially joined in the network of small organizations nationwide supporting Obama, with the recent formation of the Princeton Chapter of Students for Barack Obama.
The organization, part of the nationwide group Students for Barack Obama, was founded last month by the group's chapter director Mark Jia '10, who said he was inspired by a friend of his at Georgia Tech who told him about a chapter he had started on his own campus.
"I've always been an Obama fan," Jia said, "and New Jersey needs a lot of Obama chapters."
Jia said that the new Princeton group and a chapter at Rutgers University are the only two chapters of Students for Barack Obama in New Jersey. The group's agenda is currently to recruit as many members as possible to canvass voters in New Jersey starting next fall.
Jia started on that goal by emailing classmates who had been vocal in supporting Obama. Jia now works alongside Jason Anton '10, Shelby Gai '10 and Michelle Thompson '10 to garner support for Obama around campus.
The group has been working to expand its membership beyond this four-student committee through emails, by word of mouth and with a facebook.com group. The group had 175 members as of yesterday.
"We definitely have a wide range of people," Gai, who serves as the group's deputy director, said. "There are people who are majoring in English, East Asian studies, [and] engineers." She added, however, that despite the group's online success, the organization wants to be more than "another random Facebook group."
Anton, who serves as the chapter's communications director, said the group is out to recruit an active member base. "I don't think Princeton has a problem in terms of everyone having an opinion," he said. "The problem is just getting people out and involved."
With an eye to broadening its reach, the organization has linked itself with statewide grassroots campaigns, including New Jersey for Obama and Barack the Vote, helping to create YouTube videos, distribute free "Barack" t-shirts and raise money.
The group has also forged a partnership with the College Democrats. Though the College Democrats do not currently endorse a specific candidate, the two organizations are still working together, with Students for Obama members invited to College Democrats meetings and the College Democrats sending volunteers to Students for Obama.
College Democrats vice president Rob Weiss '09 said the group will "continue ... to strongly support [Students for Obama] and all other progressive-minded students that are passionate about the '08 presidential election."
College Democrats president Julia Brower '08 said the organization had not decided whether or not it will endorse a particular Democratic contender.
No other groups supporting specific candidates have approached the College Democrats, Weiss added.
Independent of Students for Barack Obama's recruitment efforts, there has already been a showing of support on campus for Obama.
Molly Alarcon '10, who belongs to the Princeton Students for Barack Obama Facebook group, worked with Cameron Lloyd '09 to organize a viewing of one of Obama campaign speeches. She and Lloyd gathered a group of about 10 supporters in her RCA's room to watch Obama's speech and to discuss Obama's campaign platform.
"Obama is all about grassroots campaigning, so in order to empower the people (and to fundraise), he and his team designed a 'Community Kick-Off' day on March 31 in which volunteers would sign up online to host a gathering of Obama supporters to hear his live webcast," Alarcon said in an email.
While all four officers of the Princeton chapter of Students for Barack Obama are registered Democrats and interested in politics, they all agreed that their support of Obama is personal as well as political.
"He's almost separated in my mind from the politics of the situation," Anton said. "He has a certain charisma to him, an ability to bring people together."
Gai agreed that Obama encourages political participation by his personal appeal. "Obama actually motivated me and gave me something to look forward to in politics." In the coming months, she said, the organization intends to "spread our love of Obama throughout the campus."
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