Dems want big man on campus
By Megan Hedstrom
A few days before the DFL State Convention was held in June, members of College Democrats of CSB/SJU were hard at work putting together a proposal to invite Sen. Barack Obama to campus. Joe Kane and Matt Steinrueck, two of the members who attended the convention, thought it made sense to present this type of proposal at the state convention. Kane, the College Democrats member credited for coming up with the idea, claims it was “spur-of-the-moment.”
“I woke up one day and just thought, why not? As a College Democrats member, I appreciate how many people we get to come to campus. The only candidate we haven’t gotten is Obama,” Kane said.The College Democrats have indeed managed to host just about every candidate working under Obama on campus. Larry Hosch, El Tinklenberg and Al Franken have all made appearances. Rob Jacobs will soon be joining the list as well.
“We might be dreaming big, but it is definitely not a waste of time,” said Ashleigh Leitch, co-chair of College Democrats, who helped work on the updated versions of the proposal. Kane and Steinrueck agreed with Leitch that it may be difficult to get Obama to visit the campus but hope it is not entirely impossible. College Democrats don’t want to raise expectations, but they think it would be great for the campus and community if Obama and his campaign considered visiting this rural location.
“If Minnesota became a battleground state, why not come to St. Ben’s and St. John’s? We have to at least throw our hat in the ring. Obama has visited the Twin Cities multiple times, and we want to showcase the DFL’s strength in central Minnesota,” Leitch said.
Besides the rural location, the proposal listed other reasons for Obama to visit CSB/SJU. In a letter addressed to the presidential candidate, members of College Democrats wrote that the situation and history of our two institutions would offer Obama’s campaign a unique opportunity to exhibit his platform. They also discussed the CSB/SJU community’s values and how they believe these would complement his message and make this the perfect venue to further his message.
The first draft of the proposal, which was written right before the DFL State Convention, was not anything like it is now.
“The reaction we got from the state convention and people that we talked to really excited us. We knew we had something here and wanted to make it as professional and detailed as possible,” Kane said.
The College Democrats revised and edited many drafts before coming up with the letter’s current form. They presented the proposal face-to-face to many influential people. They distributed copies to Dennis McDonough, a foreign policy advisor for Barack Obama and ’92 alumnus of SJU. They also had help from Prof. Miguel Diaz, a Catholics For Obama outreach volunteer.
Kane, Steinrueck and Leitch want the students and community to know that this proposal has been shown to who they believe are the right people. They know that it has been brought up directly to Barack Obama.
College Democrats also had support from CSB/SJU presidents MaryAnn Baenninger and Br. Dietrich Reinhart. In Aug. they added a letter from both presidents to the proposal. Baenninger and Reinhart are committed to providing what would be needed if Obama were to speak on campus, but are not endorsing him. They just wanted Obama to know that they would provide the necessary support and facilities to make his visit feasible, they said.
The proposal included the facilities that would accommodate an audience for Obama’s visit. The primary hypothetical venue was Clemens Stadium at St. John’s. In case of weather problems or other issues, alternative venues were also presented. These included the Clemens Fieldhouse and Petters Auditorium at St. Ben’s, or the Warner Palaestra or Sexton Arena at St. John’s. Other components of the proposal included a more in-depth description of the institutions, potential speech topics, plans for parking and driving, safety procedures, 2008 caucus totals and participation of CSB/SJU students and contact information.
This proposal is a step toward getting Obama to consider CSB/SJU, but the College Democrats want to reiterate the fact that the visit might not happen.
“This proposal wasn’t meant to get expectations up. It would be great if we could get a candidate of this stature to come to campus, but that is not the only benefit this proposal shows,” Steinrueck said.
They believe the proposal is something the students and community can be proud of. It shows how strong and creative College Democrats can be. If Obama decides to come to campus, a detailed plan and support would already be in place.
“This proposal just goes to show how hard we (College Democrats) work for our community at large. We don’t want to be overlooked. Providing candidate access and that direct voter-candidate relationship is what we are all about,” Kane said.
