Change has unofficially dubbed itself the theme of this election. From packed arenas and small townhall meetings, the call is being echoed by millions of Americans. They’re people who are angry, frustrated, inspired and motivated to do something about the status quo, and in some cases, they’re working for change right here on campus.
They’re people like computer engineering senior Frank Sanchez, a member of the Cal Poly Democrats and Cal Poly students for Barack Obama (a group he co-founded with Conner Johnston, and Molly McFarland). Utilizing the power and efficiency of the Internet, the three created a Facebook group, which is now has more than 800 Cal Poly members. Cal Poly Students for Barack Obama is an official chapter of Students for Barack Obama, the student branch of the Obama for America campaign.
At random times during the day Sanchez can be seen walking through the University Union Plaza with his roommate’s black Labrador, registering voters between classes. When he’s not registering voters he’s welcoming politicians like 23rd district congresswoman Lois Capps (D-Calif.) to Cal Poly to speak and take question from students.
His activism traces back to when Sanchez was in high school. The Iraq War was in its early stages, and Sanchez was aggressively calling for its end. However, he fell out of activism when he felt his voice wasn’t being heard.
“I felt like didn’t really have a say, like no one was going to listen to me, so I became very apathetic towards politics and sat out of a lot of elections,” he says. “I voted Democrat, but I didn’t really do any campaigning.”
It wasn’t until he heard Sen. Barack Obama’s rebuttal to President George W. Bush’s State of the Union Address that he was impressed enough to look up the junior Democratic senator from Illinois. In fact, Sanchez recalls his roommate telling him, “This guy is going to be our next president,” and he answered back, “We’ll see about that.”
While doing research on Obama one night, he stumbled upon a YouTube video of Obama’s 2004 Democratic National Convention speech. In a moment he was sold on Obama. “I donated $20 that night, then later someone from the campaign called me to see if I was interested in volunteering. From then on I’ve been really involved.”
The biggest issue Sanchez hopes an Obama administration would tackle during its presidency is the Iraq War.
“The Iraq War has sort of been his claim to fame. So for him to keep his promise of withdrawing troops is up on my list,” he said. “If the economy is still in the condition that it’s in now, then the economy should be the priority, but I think the economy will rebound.” Sanchez also pointed out that he believes Obama wouldn’t be in this current position as the Democratic presidential nominee if he didn’t speak out against the Iraq War when he did.
He said his politics beliefs derived from this Democratic parents and the he progressive teachers in his life. “They didn’t necessarily tell me what to believe, but they gave me good sources of information. I grew up during the Clinton administration and things were good, then Bush took office and things don’t seem to be going as well,” he said.
Although he is a member of the Cal Poly Democrats, Sanchez said he is more left-leaning than the average Democrat and actually considers himself more of an independent. Sanchez said he has voted for candidates from other parties including the Green Party and Peace and Freedom Party.
Organizing events for his groups has been hectic for the senior in his last quarter at Cal Poly. “Especially during this homestretch right before the election, things really gear up. It’s difficult to get all my school work done and campaign,” he said. “It has taken a lot of caffeine.”
The presidential debates served as a time to rest from the campaigning and to analyze and discuss the issues among his fellow Obama supporters while at a barbeque hosted for the final debate.
On election night, whether his candidate wins or losses, Sanchez says he will continue to work to elect progressive candidates into office. “That’s sort of what Barack Obama did for me. He got a lot of us who were out of the loop and not involved in politics back into it,” he said. “It’s not necessarily about Barack Obama because elections happen every two years. We have a governor’s race coming in 2010.”
On the other end of the political spectrum, but just as passionate about her candidate, is Cal Poly student Jacki DeMarchi. Her support for Sen. John McCain came after he clinched the Republican Party nomination.
“I initially didn’t support (McCain), but as I started to learn more about him, I have become completely happy to support him,” she said. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani had trumped the top of her list at first.
The animal science senior became a member of the Cal Poly College Republicans as a freshman and worked herself up to president. It was during this period that she really became captivated with politics.
“After meeting people, going to the different conventions and events; I felt attached and I really believed in the ideas of the club,” she said.
When out campaigning, DeMarchi gets mixed reactions from people, which in turn fortify her reasons for campaigning.
“It is hard when there aren’t many people who are super-excited. It’s not discouraging, but I don’t want people to vote for Barack Obama just because they’re mad at George W. Bush.”
Because she considers herself an economic conservative, issues like excessive government spending and taxes lured her to the Republican Party. On the other hand, she does not consider herself completely “right wing,” saying that “issues that don’t necessarily affect me, like social issues, are not things I’m very concerned with. I’m concerned more with things that affect me directly, like payroll taxes.”
DeMarchi went on to mention that Republicans at times are as labeled “cold-hearted” people who do not care about the less fortunate; a label she said is completely untrue. “Many Republican officials donate a larger percentage of their income to charities than, let’s say, Joe Biden who donated less than a percent.”
It’s those core Republican values of limited government, limited spending, and fewer taxes that solidify her choice of candidates. So when the bailout plan was pending in Congress, DeMarchi called her congressmen to tell them to vote no on it.
“They need to know these things, they keep track of these things, and they do listen” she said. And when the plan passed, she kept in mind that she carried out her responsibility of informing her representatives of her opinion.
The Mission Viejo native has a Republican mother and an Independent father but said that had little effect on her political ideology. Rather, she credits more the conservative atmosphere of Orange County for the development of her political leanings.
DeMarchi admitted that she agrees with some liberal ideas, but that she is still consistently more conservative. Therefore, when McCain worked across party lines, it did not trouble her as much. “You have people believing so many different things. So it’s hard to get anything done. When McCain compromises with the other side, he is working to get something done, instead of getting nothing done.”
When McCain announced Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential pick, she said that she was pleasantly surprised. “I think she brings in a new crowd of Republicans, a younger crowd who can relate more to her because of her age,” she explained. She cited the Alaskan governor’s record of taking on big oil companies and fighting pork-barrel spending as a good fit for McCain’s fiscal record.
DeMarchi is aware that her candidate has a slim chance of prevailing in California, but recognizes that the election isn’t solely about electing a president, and said she believes her efforts are for the greater conservative movement.
“A lot of the information we hand out to voters is about local candidates and propositions because it’s about stuff we have a chance at winning,” she said. “Not that we lost hope, but that our time and effort can be used wisely to swing votes in Nevada.” Nevada is one of several swing states that both parties are aggressively targeting.
June will mark the end of her academic career at poly, and she already made plans to run for office after starting a career.
“If I care about the things I believe in, I want to make sure I am out there doing something about it. I don’t want to wait for someone else to do something about it.”
For the time being, she is campaigning to elect the man she thinks is best qualified for the presidency. But if he isn’t elected, she said, “I don’t want my country to do worse under Obama because it will help Republicans, I want my country to do better. And if Barack Obama gets elected, I wish him the best.”