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Campaign For Change
Brandon Riker '10 is one of the first college students on the list for an internship at the White House. He has a pretty good chance of securing a spot; the 21-year-old was one of the field staffers who helped Barack Obama get elected.
Riker, an economics major with a passion for politics, took a leave of absence from the classroom to get a real-world education on the campaign trail. Between May 2007 and January 2008, he worked in New Hampshire as a paid field organizer for the Obama campaign.
"Most of the volunteers in the Hanover office were high school students," Riker recalls. "They're really the best volunteers because they'll work for pizza, and they can't vote. When they talk to voters about the issues confronting our nation, theirs is a compelling story."
Riker was one of 30 organizers sent to South Carolina to beef up operations there and to help develop the Obama strategy that resonated with the nation's young people. The campaign bought advertising for online video gaming sites. They ran Facebook ads and sent text messages. They made phone calls and knocked on doors.
"We were pretty successful in our ability to find ways to get people to vote and to persuade them to vote for Obama."
He took the Obama message to Connecticut, Maryland, Vermont and Pennsylvania. As the general election drew closer, Riker was promoted to regional field director and was sent to Montana, where he oversaw a team of campaign organizers.
"I was really drawn to the campaign because of Senator Obama's commitment to change the way Washington is run," Riker recalls. "The decisions our politicians make affect people's lives, and there's been a real disconnect. In South Carolina and Montana, schools are failing. In Pittsburgh, blue-collar jobs are dying. College is a bubble—an opportunity that many Americans will never have."