Bradley finds support on Iowa college campus
By Mike Ferullo/CNN
January 22, 2000
Web posted at: 7:22 p.m. EST (0022 GMT)
DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) - Inside the warm confines of Drake University's student center on this chilly
Saturday morning, a small but enthusiastic band of Bill Bradley supporters huddled behind a table distributing
campaign flyers and bus directions to caucus sites near this 120-acre campus.
A lonely stack of George W. Bush placards sat atop an unmanned table to their immediate right, and the
Al Gore contingent had not arrived to set up shop to their left. As students lumbered by on their way to
the dining hall, Marta Anderson and her friends eagerly pitched Bradley, the former New Jersey senator
running as a Democrat for president, to anyone who would listen.
"Politics never fired me up like this," said Anderson, a senior majoring in environmental sciences.
"I can't imagine doing anything else right now."
Anderson, like many of her fellow volunteers, isn't particularly interested in earning credit or
a future career in politics, but said she was attracted to Bradley's low-key, professorial demeanor.
She cited concern over Vice President Al Gore's environmental record as the main reason she strolled
into Bradley's Iowa headquarters -- conveniently located about a mile down the road from Drake -- and
asked to volunteer last September.
"He was (Gore) the only person take a stand on environmental resources, then he backed away from them
when he become vice president," she said.
Although the former New Jersey senator and basketball star has been sometimes labeled as bland, his
personality has clearly scored points with younger voters who also list gun control, health care and
women's issues as their top concerns.
Gore, whose lead over Bradley has jumped to as much as 30 percent in recent Iowa polls, is benefiting
from a mass mailing campaign by organized labor and the endorsements of most of the state's Democratic
Party faithful. Bradley campaign officials view the 18- to 24 year-old vote as critical in offsetting
at least some of Gore's "entrenched power," a term that Bradley has used with increasing frequency
leading up to Monday's vote.
Jim Farrell, Bradley's Iowa communications director, wouldn't say whether the close proximity to
Des Moines' largest university factored into the decision to locate Bradley's Iowa campaign
headquarters just a bike ride down University Avenue, but stressed "that it certainly helps quite
a lot."
Groups of students arrive nightly prepared to stuff, seal and stamp mass mailings, while others
convene at the Polk County headquarters closer to downtown to receive last-minute instructions before
canvassing local neighborhoods in single-digit temperatures.
Amanda Davis drove down to Iowa from McCallister College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and has been staying
at a motel at her own expense to work for Bradley. An internship at the home office of Sen. Paul
Wellstone (D-Minnesota) last summer inspired her to embark on her Iowa trip. Wellstone, a fiery
liberal, is one of only three U.S. senators to endorse Bradley.
"Students like Bradley because he seems like a normal person," she said. "He could be your next-door
neighbor, but with a vision."
An encounter with Senator Bradley five years ago during a book signing of "Time Present, Time Future"
inspired 19-year-old Angie Schiavoni to hop on a bus from her home town of Madison, Wisconsin to Des
Moines two weeks ago.
"This is where the action is -- forget Florida," she said, referring to a more popular college option
during winter recess. "I'm here for what he's doing, definitely not the glamour."
Her 14-hour workdays answering phones, compiling media packets and helping organize events in Iowa
seem a world removed from the political science courses she takes at Wesleyan University in
Connecticut.
"I feel like I'm getting a master's degree being submerged in this intense atmosphere," she said. "But
I still I have plenty to learn."
Schiavoni plans to return to school on Tuesday, followed by a drive up to New Hampshire the following
weekend in advance of the February 1 primary.
"If the young people come out to vote, we'll do well," she said.
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