While Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and John McCain, R-Ariz., were winning their respective parties' New Hampshire primaries, 28 AU students documented the political event as part of a School of Communication course.
In the course, "Special Topics in News Media: Covering the 2008 Presidential Election," students divided into six small groups. Each group produced a three to five-minute documentary that focused on a specific issue, according to Dotty Lynch, an SOC professor who teaches the course with SOC professors Lynne Perri and Bill Gentile. Three other SOC professors - former USA Today White House correspondent Richard Benedetto, former ABC News correspondent James Wooten and political reporter Jules Witcover - also advised the students during the trip. All three will continue to be involved throughout the remainder of the course.
The experience allowed the students to see the primary process and the candidates in a new light. After a visit to a Clinton speech Jan. 7, many of the students were engaged in discussing her positions on the issues, Lynch said.
"It gave them a much better sense of how people were making up their minds," she said.
Observing the candidates up close also allowed the students to see them as regular people rather than icons. Cait Douglas, a senior in SOC and the School of Public Affairs, said she saw Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and McCain speak. The physical and emotional tolls on both candidates were visible, according to Douglas, but she said their passion impressed her.
"They were lacking as much sleep as we were," Douglas said. "They're people, too."
Douglas and her group members are producing a documentary on young veterans from Iraq and how their service has influenced who they are supporting in the 2008 election. The group's work details two such veterans - one campaigning with other veterans on behalf of McCain and another who is against the war and came to New Hampshire to protest at different primary events, according to Douglas.
Peter Surprenant, a senior in SOC and SPA, said he met two of the Republican candidates. He met former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., at his New Hampshire headquarters the night before the primaries and former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., during a campaign party at a country club. Huckabee even provided a 30-second sound clip for Surprenant's documentary.
Besides getting to see and speak with candidates, the students also got a crash course in covering the race.
Surprenant had the opportunity to work in the "spin room" during and after the ABC/Facebook debates held at Saint Anselm College Jan. 5. A spin room is where the candidates' representatives attempt to persuade reporters that their respective candidate won the debate.
The opportunities the students had to meet candidates and mingle with established media professionals could not have been possible without the connections and expertise of the professors involved, said Ted Roach, a first-year graduate student in SOC.
One highlight of the trip for Roach was when Wooten drove him and other students to a McCain rally and shared his expertise on covering political races. When they arrived, Wooten guided Roach to the front of the crowd, allowing him to ask McCain a question and receive an answer from the senator.
"The access they gave us and the connections they had were amazing," he said.
The students will finish their documentaries during the remainder of the course, which lasts until March 5.
