Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Apathetic College Students No More

Aired October 21, 2003 - 15:19   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.


JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: With the New Hampshire primary a little more than three months away, volunteers for the Democratic hopefuls are hard at work in the Granite State.
Reporter Aneesh Raman reports that the stereotype of the apathetic college student still persists, but the image doesn't always match reality.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The pay is minimal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one's here for the money.

RAMAN: The hours seemingly endless.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's seven days a week, 12 hours a day.

RAMAN: And the food is as basic as it gets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The campaign diet is ramen noodles and Pop Tarts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now it's time for him to go!

RAMAN: Call it lifestyles of the young and the political. These college-age students are giving up the next few months of their lives to court the crucial voters of New Hampshire. It's not a glamorous job.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As you may imagine, we go through a lot of mail. I have a personal relationship with everyone who works at the post office in Manchester.

RAMAN: And, often, it can be tedious, getting out the message one voter at a time. Rachel Solberson (ph), a 19-year-old sophomore on leave from Hamilton College, is the Manchester office manager for Howard Dean.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of my job is making people come in here and feel as though we care about them and what they have to say, both to us and to the governor. And I like being that person.

RAMAN: An hour Northeast of Manchester, in the smaller town of Dover, 24-year-old Tim Pena (ph) lacks even the luxury of a crowded workplace. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This used to be a bridal shop. So these were the back dressing rooms.

RAMAN: Here, it's just him and two other recent grads heading up outreach in the region for John Kerry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely very, very busy lifestyle and not a lot of time for a whole lot of other things. Sort of our lives become the New Hampshire primary.

RAMAN (on camera): These staffers are aware that they're exceptions to the rules of their age, not just politically interested, but also politically active.

(voice-over): Getting more college students to pay attention, says 21-year-old Lieberman staffer David Solomini (ph), is simply a matter of tactics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If politics looks like advertising, we ignore it like we ignore a Nike ad. If it's someone who is going to engage me personally, then it's going to have an impact in how I'm looking at the process.

RAMAN: And it may be the most important role for these staffers is as political salesmen to their peers, the almost 10 million college students who, while traditionally apathetic when it comes to voting, could prove instrumental next fall. According to a survey published last May by Harvard's Institute of Politics, nearly 60 percent of college students say they'll definitely be voting in the 2004 general election.

Perhaps a sign of the times, the numbers suggest students are now seeing politics affect their daily life in significant ways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the situation abroad, with the amount of people our age that are being sent over there, people younger than us that are going over there, it matters. It's a voting issue. For the folks that are getting out of school and can't find a job -- they have a college degree and they are going to work at Starbucks -- it matters.

RAMAN: Political battle cries to a historically silent generation of voters from a few individuals giving it their all.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Manchester, New Hampshire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 21, 2003 - 15:19   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: With the New Hampshire primary a little more than three months away, volunteers for the Democratic hopefuls are hard at work in the Granite State.
Reporter Aneesh Raman reports that the stereotype of the apathetic college student still persists, but the image doesn't always match reality.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The pay is minimal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No one's here for the money.

RAMAN: The hours seemingly endless.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's seven days a week, 12 hours a day.

RAMAN: And the food is as basic as it gets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The campaign diet is ramen noodles and Pop Tarts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now it's time for him to go!

RAMAN: Call it lifestyles of the young and the political. These college-age students are giving up the next few months of their lives to court the crucial voters of New Hampshire. It's not a glamorous job.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As you may imagine, we go through a lot of mail. I have a personal relationship with everyone who works at the post office in Manchester.

RAMAN: And, often, it can be tedious, getting out the message one voter at a time. Rachel Solberson (ph), a 19-year-old sophomore on leave from Hamilton College, is the Manchester office manager for Howard Dean.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of my job is making people come in here and feel as though we care about them and what they have to say, both to us and to the governor. And I like being that person.

RAMAN: An hour Northeast of Manchester, in the smaller town of Dover, 24-year-old Tim Pena (ph) lacks even the luxury of a crowded workplace. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This used to be a bridal shop. So these were the back dressing rooms.

RAMAN: Here, it's just him and two other recent grads heading up outreach in the region for John Kerry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definitely very, very busy lifestyle and not a lot of time for a whole lot of other things. Sort of our lives become the New Hampshire primary.

RAMAN (on camera): These staffers are aware that they're exceptions to the rules of their age, not just politically interested, but also politically active.

(voice-over): Getting more college students to pay attention, says 21-year-old Lieberman staffer David Solomini (ph), is simply a matter of tactics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If politics looks like advertising, we ignore it like we ignore a Nike ad. If it's someone who is going to engage me personally, then it's going to have an impact in how I'm looking at the process.

RAMAN: And it may be the most important role for these staffers is as political salesmen to their peers, the almost 10 million college students who, while traditionally apathetic when it comes to voting, could prove instrumental next fall. According to a survey published last May by Harvard's Institute of Politics, nearly 60 percent of college students say they'll definitely be voting in the 2004 general election.

Perhaps a sign of the times, the numbers suggest students are now seeing politics affect their daily life in significant ways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With the situation abroad, with the amount of people our age that are being sent over there, people younger than us that are going over there, it matters. It's a voting issue. For the folks that are getting out of school and can't find a job -- they have a college degree and they are going to work at Starbucks -- it matters.

RAMAN: Political battle cries to a historically silent generation of voters from a few individuals giving it their all.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Manchester, New Hampshire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com