Following the Oct. 15 rally with Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., the University of Wisconsin Students for Obama met Thursday night to plan events for their continuing effort to elect him president. With hopes set on Iowa, approximately 30 students met to discuss phoning Iowa students, caucusing in the state and further promoting Obama on the UW campus.
Newly appointed Students for Obama chair Ami ElShareif called the rally earlier this month a success, as out of the 4,000 attendees, around 3,000 of them were students.
The organization is now focusing on campaigning for the Illinois senator for the Iowa caucus, which will likely take place Jan. 3 or 5, Students for Obama vice chair Maggie Raiken said. She added the GOP announced its Iowa caucus will take place Jan. 3, and the DNC’s will likely take place on the same day.
UW Students for Obama are planning to travel to Iowa Nov. 3 as a part of a region wide Canvas for Change event which will likely involve students from Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin.
ElShareif said UW has one of the five largest and most active Students for Obama groups, in company with University of Illinois, DePaul University, Indiana University and Ohio State University.
A similar Canvas for Change event took place this summer and attracted 6,000 students, ElShareif said, and the Obama campaign is hoping to triple that number for the Nov. 3 event.
“The Iowa caucus is one of the main focuses of the campaign, and college students will make a huge difference in the caucus if we are able to contact them and see who they’re caucusing for,” ElShareif said.
She added they would be identifying students who plan to participate in the caucuses in hopes they will vote for Obama.
ElShareif said students could play an important role in the caucus, as it is not set up like a regular election or primary.
“It’s not one of those things that you can go all day long and vote. It’s a one-time kind of thing, you go at seven o’clock at night, you get in a room with a bunch of people and you go to the corner of the candidate of your choice,” ElShareif said. “They count up the people, do some math in front of you, and from there you figure out who wins.”
ElSharief added the candidate who wins the caucus “often has an advantage in the election.”
She said 1,700 different caucuses will take place across the state and between 100,000 and 150,000 people will participate.
Students for Obama member and UW sophomore Caroline Gomez said the group would also be focusing on phone banking University of Iowa and Iowa State students to encourage individuals to participate in the caucus and promote the senator..
UW junior Stephanie Gilski, who will be participating in her third trip to Iowa, said Obama offers”a new aspect of running and doing the whole political thing.”
“I tell everyone Barack’s going to be the next president, but you’ve got to be optimistic that way,” Gilski said.
