Yale on the Trail

By Zack Abrahamson/Staff Reporter 
Sam Schoenburg ’11 does not have five minutes.
“You know, I really don’t right now. I’m sorry, I’ve got to get this done,” he says, typing furiously on a keyboard at Illinois Senator Barack Obama’s Des Moines headquarters.
The Silliman College freshman is 336 miles from home, surrounded by new volunteers he does not […]

[Read more →]

By Gabe Goffman ‘10
The caucuses had finally arrived.
And although I had been anticipating this day, I felt more a sense of relief and exhaustion than excitement after spending a draining week in a stranger’s basement working for Barack Obama. I was nervous — not about the outcome, but because I would soon have to drive […]

[Read more →]

By Sam Schoenburg ‘11
I could not believe I was there. Standing with my friends, fellow interns on the campaign trail in Des Moines, Iowa, I was about to hear one of the most uplifting political speeches of my life from a man who, with his win in the Iowa caucuses just two hours old, was […]

[Read more →]

NEW HAVEN, Conn., 2:31 p.m. — In New Hampshire, Senator Barack Obama seemed to be the darling of students, who flocked to his rallies and cheered for him as if he were a rock star. To young people, he was supposed to be a candidate who represented a new generation of politics, a voice […]

[Read more →]

MUNCIE, Indiana, 11:30 p.m. - This past Thursday evening, January 3, I watched history and recorded it.

addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fyaledailynews.com%2Fblogs%2Fyaleonthetrail%2F05%2Fdont-discount-the-influence-of-media%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘Media%3A+Influential+but+imperfect’;
addthis_pub = ”;

[Read more →]

NORMAN, Oklahoma, 6:20 p.m. — For assistant professor in Political Science Ange-Marie Hancock, Barack Obama’s resounding win over third-place Hillary Clinton LAW ‘73 in Iowa last night is big news — it is a historical moment, she says — but it hasn’t made her decision as a voter any easier.
“Honestly, right now I am square […]

[Read more →]

INTERSTATE 80, Iowa, 3:30 p.m. – The cameras left today. So, too, did the candidates, in big airplanes that flew north to New Hampshire. Iowans settled back to their lives. In a Country Kitchen off I-80 just west of Des Moines, the talk was once again town gossip – not the candidate haggling […]

[Read more →]

DES MOINES, Iowa, 2:45 p.m. - “It’s like the morning after a party,” Iowa State Republican Party Exectuive Director Chuck Laudner says, surveying the phone banking room that looks like a fraternity ripped through it. “Everyone just picks up and goes home, and we’ve got to clean up.”
And that’s just what it is: the morning […]

[Read more →]

WEST CALDWELL, New Jersey, 2:45 p.m. — So you say you want a revolution?

addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fyaledailynews.com%2Fblogs%2Fyaleonthetrail%2F04%2Fat-the-caucuses-one-in-five-voters-were-young%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘Analysis%3A+At+caucuses%2C+1+in+5+voters+were+young’;
addthis_pub = ”;

[Read more →]

DES MOINES, Iowa, 1:50 PM – The Ron Paul for President after-party feels like a funeral. Onstage, a folksy singer croons out a tune with an acoustic guitar. A spattering of Ron Paul supporters stand around holding plastic plates of cheese cubes.
It was a rough night yesterday for the Texas Congressman and his libertarian platform. […]

[Read more →]

ANKENY, Iowa, 1:45 p.m. - Last night, I saw of the most bizarre proceedings I’ve ever been witness to, from within the Ankeny United Methodist Church in Iowa. There my companions and I observed the Ankeny Precinct 3 Democratic caucus.

addthis_url = ‘http%3A%2F%2Fyaledailynews.com%2Fblogs%2Fyaleonthetrail%2F04%2Fcaucus-afterthoughts%2F’;
addthis_title = ‘Caucus+afterthoughts’;
addthis_pub […]

[Read more →]

DES MOINES, Iowa, 4 a.m. - Iowa holds a special place in American political life. It is routinely the first state in which presidential candidates are tested and chosen, and has been since 1972.
Iowans seem to regard their civic responsibility with utmost seriousness. They are aware that the eyes of the world are […]

[Read more →]

NORMAN, Oklahoma, 10:45 a.m. — I didn’t think I would have a reading assignment while on winter break. Then again, I also hadn’t planned on interviewing Ted Marmor.
I wanted the School of Management and political science professor’s opinion on the presidential candidates’ positions on healthcare. Marmor, after all, has testified before Congress on healthcare reform, […]

[Read more →]

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa, 3:40 a.m. - A person’s style of dress is a mode of communication.  Dress is an outlet by which a person says something about themselves.  Dress makes a statement.
Presidential hopeful John Edwards made his statement in the final days of the Iowa campaign.  His casual dress was in stark contrast to the formal wear donned by other […]

[Read more →]

NEW HAVEN, Conn., 12:28 a.m. — Connecticut Senator Christopher J. Dodd gave up his long-shot bid for the Democratic nomination for president late Thursday night after a woeful showing hours earlier in the Iowa caucus.
Dodd, who was widely expected to leave the race if he did not finish fourth or better in the caucus, failed […]

[Read more →]