The Best Political Science Class Ever: College Students Descend Upon Denver to be Eyewitnesses to History

It’s hard to say if Denver is ready for this historic Democratic National Convention, but the 370 college students I’m with are not only ready, but they’ve already started their volunteer work, whether it’s with media outlets such as CNN or security for the Pepsi Center or interest groups such as Emily’s List or dozens of other organizations in need of live bodies and willing minds.

The students, along with some 30 faculty leaders and 20 staff of The Washington Center staff, which created this program, are staying in dorms at Regis University, a lovely campus designated as a national arboretum and located about four miles northwest of the Pepsi Center, where the Convention will be held.

We’ve been here a week already, being educated about the players and issues by a long list of prominent speakers, including Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, DNC Chairman Howard Dean, David O’Connor of the Secret Service and Steve Scully of C-Span. We also have Prof. Tom Cronin of Colorado College as our faculty director and Prof. Michael Genovese of Loyola Marymount University as our scholar in residence. Needless to say, our brains are full.

It’s fascinating to have their help to step back and look at this intense campaign from the distance of a social scientist and from a historical perspective. Prof. Cronin gave a lecture about contradictions and paradoxes, and how they affect our political thinking. For example, he pointed out that Americans seem to want a president who is a “common person, yet with uncommon genius.” We want someone who wields power, but yet we fear that power. We want someone with complete self-confidence, yet humble; someone who unifies, but is independently decisive; some who is “above politics, yet willing to do ‘business with the devil.’” It’s been a roller coaster ride for us all in trying to find this Platonic ideal, and it probably won’t happen anytime soon.

We heard from T. R. Reid, a Washington Post political reporter who has covered 13 conventions and dozens of elections and conventions in other countries. He said covering American conventions used to be fun, but it’s not anymore. “There’s no time for reflection, for partying or for composing good writing,” he said. Reporters have to do it all, including their own photos and video. “It’s not like it used to be.”

We heard what it used to be like from a different perspective than reporters. Wally Podrazik, the DNCC director of media logistics, reminded us that it was exactly 100 years ago that Denver hosted the last (and only other) Democratic Convention in its history. The candidate was William Jennings Bryan, the great orator. The featured technologies of the time for the media were the telegraph, a telephone filing center in the basement and 3,500 incandescent lights. He added that, at that time, the nominee did not appear at the convention. It was considered in poor taste. It wasn’t until Franklin D. Roosevelt was the nominee in 1932 that the speech was broadcast live on radio.

Between lectures and volunteer work, our students have gotten a preview of what’s coming Monday. We toured both the Pepsi Center, where the Convention proceedings will be held, and Invesco Field, where Sen. Obama will give his acceptance speech. Since Invesco had a football game scheduled for Friday night, there are only five days to complete the significant modifications to the field itself.

The Pepsi Center appeared ready for the event. The platform looked more like a stage set for television than anything intended for a live audience. The intense blue lights lent a strangely eerie cast to the largely empty hall. The networks (including Fox TV) have their skyboxes labeled and ready for action. The radio networks have their tables in the halls. The bloggers are relegated to a tent in the perimeter. The building is crawling with volunteers, all earnest but still a bit lost. They are, however, definitely excited.

Josh Peterson, a BSU student, and I are the only Minnesotans in our Washington Center group. Peterson is volunteering with CNN, and has already begun work with them doing the endless preparation for the biggest news political news event in four years. Our small group also includes a news anchor and cameraman from the most-watched television news show in Indonesia.

Tomorrow: Who are the protesters and what are they protesting?