Students trying to make a difference in 2004 election

By GAIL SCHONTZLER, Chronicle Staff Writer

College student Christina Hayes never cared about politics, but on a chilly night last January she drove to downtown Bozeman, hoping to meet others as determined as she was to elect a new president.

It was her first political "meet-up," arranged over the Internet. At the new Rocky Mountain Roasting Company, she and some 15 strangers huddled over cups of tea and decaf to share their support for Sen. John Kerry -- then battling in the Democratic primaries.

Before, "I was politically apathetic," said Hayes, 28, a new mom who is working on her Ph.D. in mathematics at Montana State University. "I just threw my heart and soul into this."

That meet-up sparked creation of Montanans for Kerry, a grassroots group that has since grown to 300 members, including teachers, Republicans, college students and high school students. Hayes has emerged as one of its leaders.

"Students are waking up from a dream-like state" and getting involved, Hayes said.

She has helped register voters, hand out Kerry bumper stickers, attended MSU's candidates debates and formed a media response team to reply to "right-wing" radio. The group has lined up volunteers to travel to swing states and volunteers willing to use their cell-phone minutes to organize Kerry supporters in states like Maine. For the first presidential debate, they joined the Democrats in hosting a pro-Kerry party at Colombo's Pizza, where partisans cheered heartily.

"It feels so good to actually do something to make a difference -- to be not complaining but trying to reach other people," Hayes said. "One person absolutely can make a difference."

Also fired up about an election for the first time is 20-year-old Anthony Genochio. As chair of MSU College Republicans, the political science major has seen his group grow from a dozen to more than 50 students.

"Political involvement is outrageous this semester," Genochio said. "It's huge -- every party."

When he isn't in class or drilling as an Air Force ROTC cadet, Genochio has been volunteering at Gallatin County GOP Headquarters, stuffing envelopes, going door-to-door with legislative candidate Ted Washburn and asking businesses along Interstate 90 for permission to put up Denny Rehberg for Congress signs.

College Republicans planned to march in Saturday's Homecoming Parade and to host a tailgate party before the MSU football game with free burgers and beer.

"This year, for College Republicans and I think Democrats, too, involvement has been a lot bigger," Genochio said.

"We've not had an election since Sept. 11th," he said. "Our world totally changed."

Working on the election, he said, "I definitely feel rewarded."

This tale of two MSU students exemplifies the increased involvement of students in this election.

Historically, people under 30 have been apathetic about politics and had terrible turnout in elections. In the last election, only about 32 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds voted.

But this year, many students know a friend or classmate who's serving in the war in Iraq. They've heard rumors that the draft may be reinstated and, however shaky the information, it has their attention. They are bombarded by instant Internet communications and news images from the war. And they're tuning in to hip shows like Jon Stewart's satiric "The Daily Show" -- where, pollsters found, 20 percent of young people are getting their news, and lot of it is political.

A late September poll by the Pew Research Center found that 57 percent of those under 30 said they're giving a lot of thought to the election -- a jump of over 41 percent four years before. However, young voters still lag behind older voters, 71 percent of whom are following the election.

In this election, young people could turn out in large numbers and become a key swing vote, suggested a survey of 1,200 undergraduates nationwide by the Harvard University Institute of Politics.

Jerry Calvert, an MSU political science professor who specializes in voting and turnout trends, said since the Sept. 11th attacks, "I see students a lot more interested, wanting to be informed, not blowing off politics."

Calvert sees some major differences between this generation of students and the Vietnam-era student activists. Both generations are idealistic, he said. Both were spurred into involvement by war.

But this generation is optimistic and more mainstream, Calvert said, rather than embracing a counter-culture of drugs, sex and rock'n'roll. This generation is against this war, not all wars. And this generation is very supportive of the troops.

Could students' votes be decisive in this election?

"It's possible, if they turn out in key battleground states," Calvert said.

What young people are likely to do is hard to predict. For one thing, they change their minds easily. The same Pew Research poll found that President Bush led Kerry by 48 to 42 percent among under-30 voters. Just a week before, Kerry had led 53 to 35 percent.

Another reason the youth vote is unpredictable is that they use cell phones, which pollsters can't sample.

"Under-30s are a voting bloc -- if they swing decisively, it could make a difference," Calvert said, adding that it all depends on turnout.

The Harvard survey found 59 percent of undergraduates said they would "definitely" be voting.

Still, the question won't be answered until Nov. 2: Will college students bother to go to the polls?

The night of the first presidential debate, more than 40 students watched it on TV at MSU's Strand Union Building in the Northwest Lounge. It was as quiet as a church.

The whole room was paying attention, close attention, to each word the candidates had to say.

There were a few breaks in the serious mood. Students chuckled when Kerry intoned, "I've never wilted in my life." They laughed out loud when Bush said peevishly, "Of course I know Ossama bin Laden attacked us, I know that."

After the debate, students disagreed on who'd won.

Jennifer Parkhurst and Miriam Verzatt, both 19, said watching the debate had reinforced their decision to vote for Bush.

"I just thought Bush was very direct, very clear," Verzatt said. "Kerry seemed to be always diverting."

"I was very pleased to see this room packed," said Charles Dye, a graduate student filmmaker, holding his 6-month-old son. "The country's galvanized. These are serious stakes."

Though he'd cast his first presidential vote for Ronald Reagan, Dye said, "I just detest Bush."

"I think he's made a mess of Iraq," said one 20-year-old junior from Great Falls.

"Most colleges sway to liberal or very liberal," Genochio, the College Republican, said later. "I like this campus because it's very diverse in political views."

On the last day to register to vote, a line stretched out of the Gallatin County elections office into the hallway, and most of the procrastinators appeared to be under 30.

Shelley Vance, county clerk and recorder for 16 years, said her office is still processing "hundreds and hundreds" of new voter registration cards. There's no way to know how many new voters are students.

But in the June primary, in new Precinct 35 -- which encompasses nearly all MSU dorms and family housing, or about a quarter of MSU students -- turnout among the 1,799 registered voters was an abysmal 3 percent. That was by far the lowest in Gallatin County.

In the 2000 presidential election, Vance said, turnout in the old precincts that included MSU housing ranged from 28 to 38 percent. That was again the lowest in the county.

Lauren Krnavek, MSU student vice president, has led one of several student voter registration drives. Krnavek, 21, posed the traditional challenge to University of Montana student leaders at the July regents meeting: which school can register more student voters.

Whoever loses will have to stand up at the 'Cat-Griz football game in November, sing the other school's fight song and be pelted with water balloons.

"I'm completely confident" of winning, Krnavek said. MSU student senators registered voters in all their classes, at a pizza party and in the SUB. "The student body has been surprising me with how into it they are."

Her focus is less on the presidential election than on influencing the 2005 Legislature, which controls funding for the University System. That affects how much tuition will increase. MSU students could potentially be a 12,000-person voting bloc, she said.

"With the rising cost of tuition," Krnavek said, "it drives me crazy that students don't understand the power they have."

Among the groups registering student voters was the local chapter of NORML, which seeks to decriminalize marijuana. It had a table set up in front of MSU's Renne Library one recent sunny afternoon. Signs urged students to support the medical marijuana initiative.

"Today we registered about 50 people to vote," said chapter president Erin Spitzer, 20, glimpses of her pierced tongue flashing as she spoke.

Spitzer said she's excited about voting in her first election. "We're given the right to vote, and I think every American should take advantage of that."

She declared she has a perfect 4.0 grade point average in chemical engineering.

"I'm a good example of people who can be responsible ... and contribute to society," Spitzer said. "We're not all non-motivated pot-heads."

Bozeman High School students have been participating in the election, too. Government teachers have handed out registration cards to those old enough to vote.

Under-18 students have also been active, volunteering at voter-registration tables at the Food Co-op and Sweet Pea Festival, and offering rides to the polls on Election Day, said seniors Katie Baldwin and Emily Sands.

"I think we're a politically active class and, hopefully, a whole generation," Baldwin said.

Elementary and middle-school students will also have a chance to make their voices heard on Election Day in a mock Kids Vote, said Teak Bassett, who teaches the high school class in active citizenship.

With help from a $750 League of Women Voters grant, the class will set up polling places at all the schools and hand out age-appropriate voter guides.

"It's making voting fun, getting kids involved," Bassett said.

Kala French, 19, may be the most politically active student at MSU, having been appointed by Gov. Judy Martz to a three-year term as the student regent on the seven-member Board of Regents. French attended the GOP convention in New York City. And she's been busy with fellow MSU senators, registering voters.

She's also a member of a Bush-Cheney task force, and hopes to be mobilized to go to a swing state in the final days of the campaign.

French said she sees students reading newspapers and even switching TV channels from a baseball game to watch the news.

"Students are paying attention. It's not just connoisseurs -- it's everybody," she said.

The Iraq war is a big reason.

"It's the first time we've had to deal with something so serious," she said. "We have friends and family over there."

Politics used to be something of a "taboo subject," French said, especially among young women. Now, "women have decided it's OK to talk about."

French finds it very encouraging that so many students are registered, have an opinion and are learning about the candidates.

"It's positive for the future of our state and country that this generation is picking up and running with it," French said.

"We'll see who actually gets out and votes. I'm doing cartwheels over the voter registration. I will do bigger cartwheels if they actually vote. That's the true test."