Crossposted on One Million Strong
(h/t TAPPED)
According to the LA Times, student activists, universities, and state officials have embarked on an expansive and unprecedented effort to boost student turnout in the Iowa caucus –– responding to the early caucus date by convincing students that caucusing in their hometowns during winter vacation might dramatically boost their influence over the process.
Colleges and universities, such as Grinnell College, with especially large numbers of out of state students, are making special efforts to find housing for students on the night of the caucus:
Grinnell College students can bring their sleeping bags and camp out for the night in the school's gym. Iowa State is opening a dorm for two nights, and Drake University is considering providing housing.
"Our students are very active politically, and we wanted them to be able to exercise their voting rights," said Jennifer Krohn, dean of student life at Grinnell, where 87% of the 1,500 students are from out of state.
Much more after the fold...
Hometown Caucus Captains
Student activists are working to establish a network of "Hometown Caucus Captains." The goal is to build ties between volunteers and other Obama supporters on campus who come from the same part of Iowa.
These volunteers are assigned a group of students who are originally from their hometowns, and meet with them on campus during the school year.
Over winter break, "we'll keep in touch with them, make sure they know where their precinct caucus location is, and make sure they go out to the caucus," said Andrew Wiese, co-chairman of the campus group and a senior from Cedar Rapids. "We're planning on doing whatever we can to make sure supporters go out and go to the caucus over the break."
Getting Out-of-State Students to the Caucus:
Lastly, the campaign is organizing carpools to help students from out of state get back to campus for the caucus. This is especially true for the many students in Iowa from Illinois:
More than 5,000 University of Iowa students are Illinois residents, a pool of potential Obama supporters who must return to campus to vote. Hawkeyes for Obama is setting up carpools between Illinois and Iowa City, and trying to find couches for students to crash on after the caucus.
Caitlin Ross, a sophomore from Rockford, Ill., plans to drive her mom's champagne-colored seven-seat Honda minivan back to campus on Jan. 3, packed with other Obama supporters.
"We have a really great opportunity because he's our senator, and there are a ton of students who go to the University of Iowa from Illinois," said the 20-year-old history education major. "If we all came back and caucus, it would make a really big difference."
I've written previously about Students for Barack Obama's other innovative efforts to boost student turnout for the caucus. You can read more here.
The Obama field campaign has made an unusually intense and creative push for boosting student turnout, building a unique leadership network of student activists and employing a series of inventive new techniques. This isn't just a last-minute concert tour, this is an all-out grassroots push.
Students for Hillary, in contrast, only recently launched, will be playing catch-up.