Students seek candidates, campaigns and voters

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Students from American University discovered the appeal of retail politics as they trudged through snow to find presidential candidates at restaurants and rallies, meet with party strategists and try to figure out what makes voters interested or enraged before next Tuesday’s first-in-the-nation primary.

This is the third presidential election in which American University students have journeyed to Manchester and towns around the city to see for themselves the appeal of the New Hampshire primary.

They met with Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Democratic National Committee chair, and Ray Buckley, the state party chair, whom she described as a brother. She told the more than 30 students about her drive to achieve a career in helping others through public service, which began with her rise in the Florida legislature and took her to Washington, D.C., where she is now representing the 23rd congressional district in Florida.

Several students explored downtown Manchester, where they ran into candidate Ben Carson at a restaurant and later visited Bloomberg’s studios. Some also were invited to sit in on a taping of “The Daily Show” with Trevor Noah.

“I’m excited on two levels,” said journalist-in-residence Bill Gentile. “I’m excited on being able to expose students to the way power works in our country. And I’m excited to work with my colleagues who have a much deeper reservoir of experience and understanding of that process, in part because I spent so much of that time living out of the country.” Gentile is referring to his worldwide travels for various journalistic organizations and documentary work, including 11 years living and working in Latin America.

Gentile and six other faculty members are working with 40 students in the semester-long class on the presidential primaries, which includes five days on the ground in New Hampshire.