Spring Break
From Waltham to Washington
by Ariel Wittenberg
Features | 1/29/08
Posted online at 3:26 AM EST on 1/29/08
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"I was impressed with the fact that we were even allowed to meet him, because they took us to this back room that was basically only full of big time donors and then a few students like us," he said. "But then when he shook people's hands he would ask their name. And what really struck me was if he didn't hear their name because the room was loud, he would ask them again. And he didn't have to do that because if he hadn't heard, no one would have known. But he actually cared."
Backal-Balik, Philip LaCombe '10 and Ethan Palmer '10 founded the Brandeis Students for Obama organization last spring, which now has approximately 20 members who regularly attend meetings.
But not all student political activists at Brandeis need first-person encounters as inspiration to immerse themselves in the 2008 presidential campaign. Across campus, students from clubs like Brandeis for John Edwards, the College Democrats, the Brandeis Republicans or no particular organization are rallying support for their choice candidates and expressing their opinions on significant issues in the upcoming elections.
Yes, even Mike Huckabee supporters, albeit few and far between, have weighed in.
The political climax of this semester is nearing. In the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center on Feb. 5, also known as "Super Tuesday," when 24 states, including Massachusetts, will hold presidential primaries or caucuses, Brandeis will have a polling station for registered students to vote until 7 p.m.
Passionate in their support for the youngest candidate in the Democratic presidential campaign, Brandeis Students for Obama has taken students to see him speak in Boston on three separate occasions and also went to New Hampshire numerous times last semester to help mobilize voters there.
This semester, however, Backal-Balik says that the group will be concentrating specifically on getting Brandeis to vote Obama. So far, it seems to be working.
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