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CNN Live At Daybreak
Who Are These Washington Interns?
Aired July 26, 2001 - 08:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, what motivates a college student to become an intern? Chandra Levy was an intern who has sure made the headlines. Another intern who made the news, White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. Her name is forever attached to Bill Clinton's impeachment scandal. Well, despite the jokes and the whispers, interns still lining up to make mark in Washington.
CNN's Jason Bellini is just back from the nation's capital where he talked to some interns about truth and reality and what they're doing there.
What did you find?
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I did, lots of jokes and whispers.
MCEDWARDS: Yes.
BELLINI: This summer, the title of intern has become one that we're hearing just about every day, including many people across the country wondering who are these interns, what are they all about because in other cities, you don't see them as much. But in Washington, D.C., there's an entire culture of interns. They flood the city in the summertime. So I went to Capital Hill and all around Washington D.C. to find out who these interns are.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BELLINI (voice-over): They're proud to wear ties and business suits all summer and to have an I.D. tag announce their identity.
UNIDENTIFIED INTERN: I think if you want to really get your foot in the door and you come here ambitious, you come here with that being your motive.
BELLINI: They're interns and they mean business. Sometimes...
UNIDENTIFIED INTERN: I'm about to be a senior in college but I feel like a freshman here because of so many people I meet and all the experience I'm getting.
BELLINI: Back at school, people they meet are potential friends, in Washington D.C., potential contacts.
UNIDENTIFIED INTERN: I'm definitely here to get work. I'm definitely here to find a job.
BELLINI: They may be new to the world of Washington but interns rarely consider themselves naive. Most, by the time they get here, have accepted that they won't get paid and know full well that most of what they'll do is grunt work.
(on-camera): Worker bees and want to bees, the intern ranks are filled with both. With all the work they do, many interns wonder how anything would get done in Washington without them. A good many also claim to know how the Washington game is played and they don't want to sit on the sidelines.
(voice-over): Andy Block, a college junior, was a White House intern in the Clinton administration.
ANDY BLOCK, FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN: Basically, I didn't really know what to say.
BELLINI: And a case in point that good things can happen to ambitious, young people can prove themselves.
(on-camera): So you're in (INAUDIBLE), you getting a paid job?
BLOCK: Yes, exactly, on the Gore campaign actually.
BELLINI (voice-over): Without Gore last fall, he got paid campaign work.
TERRY MICHAEL, WASHINGTON CENTER FOR POLITICS AND JOURNALISM: And recently, it's important to have one or two or even three internships.
BELLINI: Terry Michael runs a program for interns. He finds students are savvy about achieving goals.
MICHAEL: Some come here because they want to pad their resumes.
UNIDENTIFIED INTERN: They hold the key to all the doors.
MICHAEL: Some come to try to be -- actually want to get some real experience that will help them in jobs.
UNIDENTIFIED INTERN: Even when you're copying, you can learn something.
UNIDENTIFIED INTERN: Today, I wrote a lot of letters for constituents.
MICHAEL: Some, of course, come because Daddy got the internship for them.
UNIDENTIFIED INTERN: My grandfather was friends with Senator Landrieu.
UNIDENTIFIED INTERN: If you know somebody, you're in.
MICHAEL: Some come because they want to network.
UNIDENTIFIED INTERN: Make contacts, meet people.
MICHAEL: They want to meet the rich and powerful. They think that will help them later on.
UNIDENTIFIED INTERN: Like I want to meet people who are going to do things for me, to benefit my future.
BELLINI: But in most internships, access to the high and mighty is limited to chance encounters.
UNIDENTIFIED INTERN: I've had one-on-one time with other senators and representatives on the trolley.
BELLINI: The job of the intern -- learn, get experience, shares with the needs of the intern, to get noticed by someone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCEDWARDS: You know, what strikes me about your piece is the confidence that they've had -- that they have. You know, "I've had one-on-one time with senators on the ..."
BELLINI: I'm sure.
MCEDWARDS: I guess it's not -- they're young, they come, they're full of energy, they're full of hope. But did anybody talk to you about, you know, the chances of getting in over your head either at work or romantically?
BELLINI: Well, there's, of course, a lot of talk about the Chandra Levy story.
MCEDWARDS: Yes.
BELLINI: And they want to distance themselves from that. Particularly woman say that no, they would never fall prey to powerful men, that they don't like that image that they're getting, that people think of them as being very vulnerable. The men are very aggressive and they think that they can take Washington, D.C. by storm.
MCEDWARDS: A confident lot. Thanks very much, Jason Bellini.
BELLINI: You bet.
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