College Republicans ‘trick-or-campaign’ as final push before elections

Barack Obama, George Bush, Wonder Woman and a banana go for a walk down Cherry Lane on Bloomington’s south side. It’s either the start to an undoubtedly corny joke or the IU College Republicans’ new campaign strategy.

On Halloween night, members of the IU College Republicans donned costumes and went door to door distributing campaign literature to homeowners.

It was all a part of the student organization’s final campaign push before Tuesday’s election.

College Republicans President and IDS columnist junior Justin Kingsolver and Internal Vice Chairman junior Jeff Cummins said they discussed what they could do to gain more support for Republican candidates in the last few days before the election.

“What better way than dressing up like presidents and going door to door?” Kingsolver said.

The group of four met at the Indiana Memorial Union to put together campaign materials and carpool down to District 60, the district of Indiana State House of Representatives candidate Steve Hogan.

“We’ve got phone banks going on at Todd Young’s headquarters, so this is a nice break for us,” Kingsolver said.

On the drive down, sophomore Landon Kellogg talked about why he joined the College Republicans.

“My grandfather was the vice chair of the Indiana State Republican Party,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed history and stuff like that. It (politics) just kind of goes with the territory.”

Upon arrival, the group of campaigners put the finishing touches on their costumes and grabbed stacks of fliers promoting Young, Hogan and Republican candidate for Indiana’s secretary of state Charlie White.

The four split into pairs to canvass the neighborhood. Kellogg, dressed as a banana, and freshman Hilary Leighty, dressed as Wonder Woman, made their way east down Cherry Lane.

“I’ve done door to door before,” Kellogg said. “Obviously not in costume, though. It’s more fun this way.”

The duo approached the first house confidently and knocked. No answer.

Undeterred, they hung information on the door handle and shoved fliers into door jams.
The pattern continued for five houses: Knock. Nothing. Fliers. Knock. Nothing. Fliers.
But then someone answered.

The two began introducing themselves and their cause simultaneously.

“We’re passing out campaign materials,” Leighty said, handing the woman who had answered a stack of pamphlets.

But after the first house, Leighty and Kellogg developed a plan.

“Hi,” Kellogg said at the next house. “We want to reverse trick or treat for you.”
Kellogg, who had campaigned door to door before, turned out to be the more confident of the two.

“I’ve done more phone banks,” Leighty said.

But both have been involved with the Republican Party since high school.

While they walked and chatted, Leighty and Kellogg realized that they both had been instrumental in starting Young Republicans clubs at their high schools around the time of the 2008 presidential elections.

They made their way steadily down the row of houses, while across the street Kingsolver, dressed as Obama, and Cummins, dressed as Bush, garnered serious attention from the costume-clad trick or treaters passing by.

As the two president look-alikes approached resident Beth Reed’s house, the many children present yelled for Obama.

One woman said it’s not too often people get to meet two presidents at once. Then she asked for a photo with Kingsolver and Cummins.

When Reed saw them, she lit up.

“You are too funny,” she said. “That is hilarious. It’s the perfect time for it.”

When asked if she would be going out to the polls on Tuesday, she said, “Absolutely.”
As the night grew darker, more and more children joined the four out-of-place college students on the streets, and more and more people answered their doors.

Some, such as Reed, were very receptive to the College Republicans’ information, and others seemed more skeptical.

“We’re generally Democrats,” resident Trina Biehl told Kellogg and Leighty when they approached her porch.

“We hope you look into our candidates,” Kellogg replied. “We think we have a good slate this year.”

Biehl thanked them politely, and they went on their way.

Others were less friendly. After Kellogg’s now standard “reverse Halloween” line, one woman asked, “Who’s that for?”

When Kellogg said Young, the woman replied with a very short “No thank you” and promptly closed the door on the campaigners.

“Most people think it’s a good idea even if they don’t agree with what we’re handing out,” Cummins said.

Kingsolver agreed, saying the group hoped that by doing this they could get more people to the polls and that maybe some of them would remember the Republican candidates’ names when it came time to vote.

Kellogg said they came down to Hogan’s district in the south end of town because this election is particularly important for statehouse candidates. The next group of state legislators will be responsible for redistricting, a process that involves changing the boundaries of the state’s congressional districts, which occurs the year after each census.

When they had run out of fliers, the campaigners piled back into the cars and returned to campus.

The College Republicans will be very busy with phone banks and other “Get Out the Vote” initiatives for the Young campaign as they prepare for one of the tightest congressional elections in the country.

But at the end of the day, to the residents of Cherry Lane, Halloween was the night Bush, Obama, Wonder Woman and a banana marched down their street, asking them to vote Republican.