Students Swap School for Campaigns

Recent graduates and Harvard student willing to take time off are working across the country for this year’s presidential race.

For the past few months, students have served as employees for the official President George W. Bush and John F. Kerry campaigns, MTV’s Rock the Vote and Democratic interest group America Coming Together.

Michael B. Firestone ’05-’06, who is taking the semester off to work in the political department of Kerry’s Florida campaign, recruits veterans in central Florida to speak to other veterans about the Democratic presidential candidate.

“Although I didn’t think I would be working with veterans, now it’s something I’m passionate about,” said Firestone, former vice president of the HarvardCollege Democrats. “There are two million veterans in Florida, which is a very important voting group.”

On the other side of the country, Reuben Marine-Larena ’02-’04, is a regional director for America Coming Together in New Mexico. Former Vice President Al Gore ’69 won the state by 366 votes in 2000, a margin smaller than Florida’s.

“We are about voter registration,” said Marine-Larena, who expects to be sent to Iraq with the marine corps after the election. “We’re like the grassroots organizers but on steroids.”

Jennifer N. Hawkins ’04, a Texas native, has found her niche in the Bush administration.

“I wasn’t involved in politics on campus. My experience was that a lot of people were extreme and I am pretty moderate,” Hawkins said. “I didn’t find comfort zones with the Harvard College Democrats or the Harvard Republican Club.”

Now Hawkins is a policy events coordinator for the Bush administration, in charge of tracking down people who have been positively influenced by Bush’s policies.

Although she works at the campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va., Hawkins frequently follows the president on his trips to swing states.

“He actually calls me Hawk,” Hawkins said. “It’s very similar to campus. [The president] has nicknames for everybody. That’s his style.”

Hawkins, an African-American, said that she enjoys her job but wishes other blacks would be more open-minded about the Bush administration.

“If you look at senate and congressional records you will see how many bills that have helped black people he has pushed through Congress,” Hawkins said.

“I found that impressive because, quite frankly, [the president] has no incentive to help blacks. He doesn’t do things for political reasons, he does them because they’re right.”

But Jacob A. Kramer ’06, who is taking the semester off to intern for the Kerry campaign in Florida, said that active Republican efforts to stop blacks from voting is a major legal issue there.

“One of our biggest things is getting African-Americans to vote,” Kramer said.

“But there seems to be an equal effort by Republicans to suppress their vote.”

James Granger ’05-’06, has dedicated his semester to voter registration as the tour manager for MTV’s non-partisan Rock the Vote bus tour, which focuses on young people.

“Politicians have a limited amount of time that they spend on people who have a history of voting. [Young people] don’t have that,” Granger said. “It’s not cost effective for them. We need to vote to make a history so politicians will no longer ignore us.”

The bus tour, which consists of over 100 stops in more than 27 states, has registered 1.4 million voters. Granger planned a five-week concert series that featured political speakers and upcoming rock bands that played at colleges around the country.

Granger said the most rewarding part of his job is the opportunity to speak publicly about issues that most concern young people such as the war on Iraq, healthcare, the rising cost of education and the poor job market.

“Eighty percent of the military is under 35, and whether for or against it, it’s our war to fight,” Granger said.

The campaign workers said the decision to take the job wasn’t an easy one.

Although Hawkins’ immediate family also supports Bush, she said that the rest of her family and all of her black friends are anti-Bush, which puts her in a tough position.

“I wish it wasn’t that negative. Usually people can agree to disagree,” Hawkins said. “The harsh labels placed on me just because of where I work is hurtful. I love my community and I don’t like being accused of being a sell out.”

Granger also mentioned the social difficulties that come with accepting the job at Rock the Vote, but said he does not regret his decision.

“I’m sad because most of my friends are seniors graduating in the spring and that is something I will never get back,” Granger said. “I saw problems and had the opportunity to do something about it, and I couldn’t pass it up.”

Firestone, a Brookline native, said he was sad to miss the recent baseball celebrations.

“One disappointment was not being back in Boston supporting Red Sox fans,” he said.

—Staff writer Monica M. Clark can be reached at mclark@fas.harvard.edu.