Political Primer
Submitted by
smcgrif1 on Tue, 08/14/2012 - 10:17am
Kennesaw State
students are off to national political conventions in Tampa and Charlotte
At the first
session of an innovative interdisciplinary course that is giving 20 Kennesaw
State University students a chance to hone their skills at the upcoming
Republican and Democratic national conventions, students learned from top state
party officials and a veteran political journalist just what to expect.
Georgia
Democratic Party Chairman Michael Berlon, Republican
Party Assistant Treasurer Toria Morgan and Atlanta
Journal-Constitution political columnist Jim Galloway took turns painting a
vivid picture for students enrolled in the special topics political science and
communication courses.
The students
will travel in two teams to the Republican convention in Tampa Aug. 27-30 and
the Democratic convention in Charlotte Sep. 3-6. Political science
students will conduct research on the political process and communication
students will produce print, photographic and video coverage of the
conventions. For the most part, the students will be “embedded” with the
Georgia delegations at the conventions.
“Expect late
nights and early mornings beginning every day at 6:30 a.m., with intensive work
hours between 4 and 9:30 when everything is focused for primetime TV,” Berlon advised after giving a detailed description of the
process that selected 124 Democratic delegates plus alternates representing 14
Georgia Congressional districts.
Morgan, a
long-time leader in both state and Cobb County Republican party politics,
emphasized delegate selection and responsibilities during her remarks. Some
2,286 Republican delegates, will attend the
Tampa convention — 76 from Georgia plus alternates and guests, each paying
their own way, Morgan noted.
“Georgia’s is
one of the largest delegations attending the convention,” Morgan said.
“Their primary responsibilities are to nominate the candidate, help
formulate the party platform and adopt rules and procedures following GOP rules
and Georgia election laws.” Under state laws, for example, delegates are
obliged to nominate candidates based on the percentage of votes they received
in the primary election.
Communication
students covering the conventions got a jolt of reality from “Political
Insider” columnist Jim Galloway, who has been covering local, state and
national politics for more than 20 of his 32 years with the AJC.
“The only thing
worse than covering a national convention is covering a public execution,”
Galloway quipped. “From August 27 through September 7, you can expect
that there will be nothing unexpected — no surprises.”
With everything
“fixed” within a window of time on primetime TV and a very narrow one-hour
window for network news within that, Galloway said as he diagramed his point on
the board, every journalist is scrambling for some unique news. “There’s just
not enough to go around.”
Students,
who will be posting stories and images to a specially created website, can expect
to find stories on the fringes, however, and “where the chaos is,” Galloway
advised.
“I go to
conventions because the state’s entire political structure is packing up,
moving and staying in the same hotel,” he said. “That’s cool and that’s
where it happens. There’s no point in paying too much attention to the
balloting process [since both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are expected to
receive their parties’ nominations]. I’ll be watching the fringes and to see
what messages they toss out there. It’ll be happening in the margins.”
Even with
Galloway’s cautions, participating students eagerly look forward to the
challenges and the tasks associated with attending national political
conventions, producing daily journalistic reports, blogging about their
experiences and conducting interviews and participant observation research that
will be the basis of required research projects on the delegate experience,
political communication and social movements and activism.
“I have always
been fascinated with the political process in the U.S.,” said Weston Slaton, a
senior political science major who will be attending the Republican
convention. “The passion and excitement that comes with American politics
offers a one-of-a-kind experience. As a life-long political ‘junkie,’ I feel
incredibly lucky to be able to say that studying at the Republican national
convention gives me a chance to see what very few people will get to see.”
Meghan de St. Aubin, a senior communication major who will attend the
Democratic convention, says she has dreamed of attending the national
Democratic convention since she was a senior in high school when “nothing was
more important than voting.”
“I have to admit
the fact that Barack Obama running was very exciting to me, the editor of
Kennesaw State’s Talon Magazine said. “I felt then history was being made
and I knew I wanted someday to be a part of writing about it. I am still
shocked my dream is coming to a reality so soon.”
For some of the
participants, the opportunity to boost professional skills and enhance resumés drives their passion for attending the conventions.
Alisen Redmond, a veteran student journalist
with the Kennesaw State Sentinel, is focused on the chance to enhance
her reportorial skills at the Democratic convention.
“I want to
prove to myself that I can meet, rigorous, real-world deadlines while writing
professional, nationally and locally relevant stories,” she said. “I hope
to get a feel for what a day in the life of my profession will be like, while
networking and testing my ability to sniff out news.”
Charles Duvall,
a senior political science major with ambitions to attend law school and run
for public office, is anxious to research what really goes on at party
conventions and hopes his research will give people a better understanding of
the delegate experience at the Republican National Convention. In
addition, he said, “I look forward to meeting many influential people in
politics and business.”
The
collaboration that created the interdisciplinary course began more than a year
ago among political science and communication professors “shooting the breeze”
about the idea of taking a class to the Charlotte convention since it was
geographically closer, according to Jeff DeWitt, assistant professor of
political science. “We began looking into a special topics class, brainstorming
among ourselves, with more colleagues in communication and with the former
College of Humanities dean, Richard Vengroff, who was
very supportive.”
DeWitt and Kerwin Swint, professor of
political science and author of several books about campaigns, elections and
political figures, are teaching the special topics “Party Convention Field
Study” (POLS 4490). Josh Azriel, associate professor
of communication and Carolyn Carlson, assistant communication professor, are
leading “Reporting at the 2012 Political Conventions” (COM 4490). Swint and Carlson will accompany the student team attending
the Republican convention, while DeWitt and Azriel
accompany the team to the Democratic convention. Each team consists of
political science and communication students.
Students pay
tuition for the course and will provide for their own meals and expenses.
Their travel and lodging is supported with contributions from the College of
Humanities and Social Sciences and the James Arthur Pope Foundation.
While
provisions vary at each convention, the students are assured a certain level of
access to the Georgia delegates. They are invited to attend the
delegations’ daily breakfast at both conventions, some
national party meetings and several functions open to all delegates. The
Georgia Republican Party has provided four convention passes to be shared among
the students. The Democratic Party also will make extra passes available
to Kennesaw State students.
“As we train
the next generation of active participants in American and state-level
politics, these convention courses will deliver extraordinary up-close exposure
to one of the less well-known parts of the political process,” DeWitt said. “We
appreciate the strong support provided by the university’s administration and
the Democratic and Republican political party organizations who
have helped ensure that our students will enjoy memorable learning experiences
while in Tampa and Charlotte.”
— Sabbaye McGriff
Follow Kennesaw
State students’ news reports from the Republican National Convention August
27-30 and the Democratic National Convention Sept. 3-6 at kennesawcommunication.comand
as they blog about their convention experiences at http://partyconventions2012.blogspot.com/
http://web.kennesaw.edu/news/stories/political-primer
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