EDITOR'S NOTE: As Inauguration Day arrives, students from the University of Mary Washington recall their work during the election campaign. This week, the Republican students remember some campaign stories; the Democrat students' accounts will follow in a subsequent edition of MyLine. Enjoy.
YOUTH CORRESPONDENT
BSERVE THE NEW FACE of political activism: It is young, it is female and it accessorizes its jacket with a stack of beaded bracelets and a giant "SUPPORT OUR TROOPS" pin.
At least this was the impression I got a few months ago when I sat in the Pennsylvania GOP Headquarters and watched my friend Audrey.
With one hand she gripped a gargantuan Halloween cupcake, and with the other, she scratched notes on a list of Republican supporters.
As she maneuvered to keep orange frosting away from her blond hair, Burberry bag and--above all--her call list, it hit me that (to borrow the rhetoric of Bob Dylan) the Republican Party, it is a-changin'.
Young people are no longer satisfied to let their parents be the nation's king-makers, but are ready to seize that role themselves.
And it was for this very reason that some 70 College Republicans from the University of Mary Washington packed into two charter buses and headed to Philadelphia.
On the weekend before Election Day, our crowd of students had but one goal: to convince the city of brotherly love that George W. Bush was the candidate it should embrace at the polls.
We phoned voters, banged on doors--everywhere lauding Bush as the once and future king, a man poised on the brink of victory. We reminded each citizen that this victory depended on his or her individual vote.
Reactions to this message were diverse. Some kind (and stoutly Republican) souls invited us into their homes or wrapped us in their arms, while others demanded we leave the neighborhood immediately.
By and large, though, Philadelphia's reaction to our volunteer efforts was a friendly one. Standing amid pots of marigolds, campaign literature in hand, we met an elderly suburban population that seemed delighted at the youthfulness of our group.
Now, make no mistake about it: The work we did was neither easy nor glamorous. On Saturday and Sunday both, our work stretched from sunrise to sunset. Much of our time was spent wandering through some highly suspect and almost certainly crime-laden sections of town.
Fortunately, no members of our group were hospitalized.
I joke, of course--much as we did while campaigning. One of the many gains of our trip was that between doorsteps and phone calls, we were able to tease and talk with one another, reinforcing friendships within the club.
The culmination of the weekend's activities was Sen. John McCain's visit to headquarters. In person, McCain was every bit the paradox the media portrays him as: calm yet commanding, average in appearance yet larger than life.
He spoke briefly about the importance of grass-roots campaigning, thanked the volunteers, and then moved among the crowd, shaking every last eager hand in the room.
McCain's visit proved a fitting end to a really rewarding weekend.
Looking back, we know that President Bush didn't score any great victories in the Philadelphia area, yet the College Republicans count our trip to Pennsylvania as a success.
During that expedition, we were able to demonstrate that the GOP is as vital as ever. Rising from high schools and universities are legions of kids who want Republican government, who are prepared to dedicate much of their time and energy to affecting that outcome.
I asked Andrew Lamar, the chair of the UMW College Republicans, where he thought this commitment was coming from.
"Well," he explained in his North Carolinian drawl, "Our generation shares the priorities of the president. He demonstrates the leadership that younger voters desire. He also stands for the values of life and family--which this generation, as it enters into adulthood, increasingly sees as critical."
I was reminded in Philadelphia, the first American capital, that Republican principles are alive and well--and that new Republican activists are always emerging from my generation, and surely from those to come.
KATIE GREEN is a senior at the University of Mary Washington, and Secretary of the UMW College Republicans.