Twelve hours of driving, 10,000 phone calls, 1,000 yard signs, single digits of sleep, and spending time with Pennsylvania senator and GOP hopeful, Rick Santorum: not your average weekend.
Santorum lost the Wisconsin Republican Primary on Tuesday, April 3, to Mitt Romney by about 7 percent, but not for a lack of hard work on the part of six Hillsdale College students.
Senior Elliot Gaiser, junior Ryan Bolyard, sophomores Melika Willoughby, Mary Coran, and Giana Schena, and freshman Madeleine Cooney drove to Milwaukee on Friday night to help make the final campaign push before the primary.
The Wednesday before they left campus, Willoughby received a call from a regional campaign coordinator. When she said that she was a student, the coordinator asked her to bring as many students as she could. The trip would be all-expenses paid. The campaign needed help.
“I decided to go because Wisconsin is a critical state in the race,” Willoughby said, and, with the help of Gaiser, The Collegian’s opinions editor, she recruited a band of experienced campaigners.
“Santorum needs the continuation of the grassroots campaign that he has had,” she said.
The group arrived in Milwaukee, Wisc., at midnight. Santorum’s staff put them right to work.
“They received us with enthusiasm and professionalism,” Cooney said. “They had things for us to do and they were excited for us to be there.”
After two or three hours of sleep, they were back at the campaign headquarters by 7 a.m. on Saturday to prepare for a volunteer rally.
While Cooney and Schena waved signs at the street corner in front of the headquarters to direct volunteers to the right place, Willoughby handed out donuts and coffee. The others conducted crowds of people inside the office. The students organized literature, distributed signs, and made sure everything was in order for the rally.
“The campaign management really treated the Hillsdale students like a SWAT team,” Willoughby said.
After the rally came the phone banking. And more phone banking. With only a 20 minute break for lunch, the students spent nearly 10 hours calling constituents to get the vote out for Santorum. Altogether made about 10,000 calls.
Coran said she personally called 1,200 people, and was able to convince many people “on the fence” to vote for Santorum.
“I didn’t really stick to the script, and it was much better that way,” she said.
Gaiser said he had phones for each ear, and would sometimes balance two conversations at once.
“We were phone-calling animals,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bolyard and Willoughby ran from door to door, knocking and ringing bells to bring the homeowners out to the driveway where they could meet Santorum.
Santorum treated voters like they mattered, Willoughby said.
When one homeowner mentioned an aging parent with Alzheimer’s, Santorum engaged on a personal level.
“It was like you were listening to the conversation of church friends,” Willoughby said. “Never once was there a political comment. Never once did he turn it to health care or anything except their families.”
When Bolyard and Willoughby returned to the headquarters that afternoon, they helped the others make phone calls. By the end of the day, Willoughby said, she had lost her voice and everyone was “chugging” hot water with honey and lemon.
That night, Santorum spoke after Mitt Romney at a Lincoln Day dinner in Milwaukee. The students filled the lobby, coordinating volunteers and distributing material.
“We did everything from fending off Romney supporters from stealing our stickers, to barricading the door so that we could offer stickers and signs to everyone who left the event,” Bolyard said.
Gaiser was the only student to sit in on the speech, which he said was “the longest and loudest that night.” Although Romney’s speech was “funny and powerful,” he said that Santorum was “potent.” When he addressed the audience about what it means to be an American, “there was not a dry eye in the audience.”
Coran said of the weekend that “meeting [Santorum] was very reassuring of why I support him. He was very genuine and humble in person, and you can tell. I was very impressed.”
Cooney said she was encouraged by what she saw.
“There’s actually a wholesome side to politics, and there are people who actually believe in what they say they believe in, which I didn’t think existed beforehand.”
