Today was my first day to volunteer with Jesse on the congressional campaign for Ben Lowe. And to answer everyone's first and most important question of the day - he is in fact a Democrat. I've had a few people freak out on my but the deal is the issues which he has chosen to embrace and move forward on in the 6th District are more important than the idea or whatever that he is a democrat. Any who, let's move on and if you want we can bicker about the overdrawn out argument of democrat/republican at a later moment.
More importantly is what I learned today as I volunteered for my first, most likely not last, political campaign. Jesse picked me up at 8:30 this morning to head over to Ben's apartment. The campaign has an office which is currently being furnished and interneted [:)].
So, today we were working from a small, Wheaton apartment at a somewhat dirty kitchen table. On the ride over, Jesse briefed me on my responsibilities for the day and I quote told me "Bek, your job is waay cooler than mine." That statement is not really true especially since we both interacted with the others job. My to do list for the day consisted of writing a press release, researching on certain issues, and helping create better internet visibility. I was also given more on my list but these were the three things which I tacked over the 9-5 day.
My press release was to be written on the two new community outreach programs which Jesse is the director of and Ben is launching with his campaign. It took me the majority of the morning to learn what these programs were about, write a 250+ press release, and edit it with Jesse. It was good experience to get back into the news writing since I have been taking a semester break from it. Ben still needs to look over and edit but it is complete otherwise.
After writing my press release, I started to focus on researching the two topics which I was given : green jobs and immigration. Over this past semester, I spent the majority of it researching so my skills have become better in knowing what types of articles to look over and ways to research. It proved to be somewhat difficult to research on these broad topics initially but once I started looking at definitions and broader ideas of the topics, I was able to dig deeper into the issues to search through what hasv previously been done. I became extremely educated on both issues which I had none-some idea of what they involved.
I actually found a really good quote which Obama was quoted in saying to the Mexican President when discussing the Arizona law issue. “I want everyone, American and Mexican, to know my administration is taking a very close look at the Arizona law,” he said. “We’re examining any implications, especially for civil rights, because in the United States of America, no law-abiding person, be they an American citizen, a legal immigrant, or a visitor or tourist from Mexico, should ever be subject to suspicion simply because of what they look like.” Obama hit the core of the issue which Arizona is publicly struggling with right now. As I spent a few hours researching these issues, I was able to become more aware of the issues surround them while inform others as well. I think I'll write about green jobs at some other time.
Finally, the project which I started looking into at the end was helping Ben and the campaign to become more internet visible to the public. This is a really interest project that has to be worked on through wikipedia, forums, blogs, and other ways which can provide more and clicks on his links and talk on the internet about him. You should find out more about Ben at his full website and blog on http://www.loweforcongress.com/home/
Once Jesse and I were done working and discussing the next days work with Ben, he offered to take us to dinner. Jesse and I decided while he was making a phone call that we would chose the second option he gave us no matter what. We ended up going to Los Burriotos Tapitos (sp?). It was a great way to end an extremely long day of work to sit and talk about life, politics, and more. I think I'm going to really enjoy this summer of being involved in this political campaign. Don't forget to visit his website to find out how awesome Ben is.
Quick Profile: He's a Wheaton College Grad, Christian, youngest person to run for congress, and so much more...http://www.loweforcongress.com/home/
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