College Democrats Return to Ohio

For Kirsten Hansen, a suddenly-thrust fist as one exclaims "Steel!" is immediately answered by other fists.

This informal salute of the so-called "Army of Steel," the group of roughly forty students that spent Election Day weekend 2004 canvassing Lorraine County, Ohio for presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), is somewhere between lore and inside joke for the group, many of whom remain shaped by the experience.

So when Hansen, BC '07, learned that the Columbia University College Democrats were planning to return to the Buckeye State to help Congressman Sherrod Brown in his campaign against incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine, she immediately re-enlisted.

"For me, going to Ohio two years ago was a really monumental event," she said. "I'm excited to be going back to Ohio because I like Sherrod Brown and I think we're going to win."

Armed with bagels and coffee, around three dozen students organized by the College Democrats' semi-autonomous Activist Council hit the road for Ohio in rented vans before 6 a.m. this morning.

The group is expected to arrive in Cleveland this evening, and will spend the weekend waving signs, making calls, and going door-to-door to help promote Brown and other Democratic candidates in the Midwestern swing state that many strategists consider a key battlefield in the party's larger effort to win back majorities in Congress and eventually re-take the White House.

"We decided that we wanted it to be a national race," Stephen Cox, CC '09, a lead activist who helped plan the trip, said. "There's something seriously wrong with the national government, and we want to be a part of fixing it. Sure there are local problems, but you can go to Long Island any time. This is something significant."

Columbia's College Democrats are continuing a tradition started in the past several years of targeting close races around the nation and sending resources to help tint them blue. In addition to canvassing in Ohio two years ago, the Democrats sponsored a trip to Virginia last year to help successfully campaign for gubernatorial candidate Tim Kaine.

The group debated for several months where to dispatch the troops, taking into account logistical and financial concerns as they watched various races unfold. Senator Chuck Schumer suggested the group go to Rhode Island to campaign against liberal Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee. Other members pushed for a second trip to Virginia to assist efforts to unseat Sen. George Allen. Close senate races in Connecticut and New Jersey were also considered.

"There were strong feelings about several of the states," Cox said.

"Webb is very conservative, Chaffee is very liberal, and New Jersey's just not an attractive race for us."

But members built consensus around Brown, a liberal pro-union Congressman from an industrial area along Lake Erie near Cleveland. Personal ties to the campaign-the Congressman's daughter Elizabeth Brown, CC '07, helped plan the trip-as well as the symbolic importance of a win in the state that was considered the crucial loss in the last presidential election, made the decision clear.

"Congressman Brown is of course thrilled and honored to have his daughter join him on the campaign trail, and to know that her fellow Columbia students are eager to join her to help change Ohio and change the nation," said Joanna Kuebler, a spokesman for the Brown campaign.

Students from both Fordham and St. John's Universities will also campaign in Ohio, according to Josh Bolotsky, CC '07, the president of the College Democrats of New York. Bolotsky added that College Democrats at schools around the state are focusing primarily on close races for House of Representative and State Senate seats.

The Columbia Democrats are also supporting local Democratic candidates, such as Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for governor and Sen. Hillary Clinton for senate reelection.

"I've encouraged everyone who can go to Ohio to go to Ohio, but anyone who's staying around will have these opportunities," Jess Blakemore, BC '07, the president of Columbia Students for Spitzer, said.

A CNN poll released Tuesday morning indicated that Brown was leading his opponent DeWine by 11 points. But those numbers don't matter as much to Kirsten Hansen as the turnout figures from the last trip, which showed that turnout in election districts where students canvassed increased from 25 to 80 percent.

"I remember thinking: 'Damn, I can do something,'" she said. "I wanted to stay involved, and I've stayed involved with the Dems because of that. I'm so excited, and I'm excited to be going back for Sherrod Brown. He has great charisma, I like his values, and I'm really proud to be working for him."