MSNBC broadcasts live from IMU for election

IU is often recognized as America’s college town for its basketball team, Little 500 and partying tendencies, but MSNBC chose to visit for a different reason Tuesday night: political activism on campus.

NBC correspondent Luke Russert broadcast live from the Frangipani Room in the Indiana Memorial Union while the election numbers came through. He said he and the network chose IU because of Indiana’s swing state status and the political interest on campus.

“Bloomington really is the quintessential Collegetown, U.S.A.,” Russert said. “It’s a big state school, about 35,000 kids. On top of that, the kids are very politically active and politically engaged.”

The Union Board presented the election night party. Meghan Krueger, the director of seminars and events for Union Board, said it considered doing a viewing party, but solidified the decision when MSNBC contacted the Union.

Barack Obama supporters were the clear majority of attendees; however, John McCain and Ralph Nader were also represented. Many students heard about the event through e-mail because offices on campus sent out press releases to their listservs, Krueger said.

Sophomore Ryan Short, a McCain supporter, said he came to the IMU to represent Republicans because most students tend to lean Democrat.

“I figured it would be a nine-to-one ratio,” Short said. “I wanted to have a presence for my side.”

Freshman Olivia Schmidt, who voted for Obama, said she decided to come to the party because she wanted to experience the election with a lot of people, and she is proud MSNBC chose to come to IU.

“It feels awesome,” Schmidt said. “They think our school is as great as we do.”

Supporters of Nader had the smallest representation at the event. Aaron Hamlin, a second-year graduate student, said he wanted to support his candidate, even though he felt the media overlooked Nader.

“The downfall is MSNBC is not putting numbers up for any third- party candidate,” Hamlin said.

While the election results came in, students, faculty and community members helped themselves to pizza and drinks.

Students could also talk to Russert, who stood in the front of the room taking pictures, signing autographs and making conversation. When MSNBC signaled Russert would be live, students crowded behind him to get in the shot. Some even sat on each other’s shoulders.

Russert said MSNBC always planned to broadcast from a college campus because of the record numbers in youth voters this year. He said he is looking forward to seeing how the new president will affect the younger voters’ efforts.

“I think it will be really interesting to see if these candidates keep the promises they’re making to young voters,” Russert said. “That’s what makes the journey.”