Obama supporters begin reelection campaign

When Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, he won with the help of young supporters such as Melissa Orizondo.

In college, Orizondo continued to support the president, interned at the White House in spring 2011 and was a fall fellow with Obama for America last semester.

Today, she is a senior and the campus organizer for OFA at IU. She, along with Students for Barack Obama and other democratic groups on campus, is starting to get the gears turning on Obama’s re-election campaign.

“Things are fantastic,” Orizondo said. “It’s a little bit of people reaching out to us and us reaching out to different organizations.”

Jon Todd, a senior, Indiana Daily Student columnist and the president of Students for Barack Obama at IU, said Obama’s stances about issues such as college affordability and healthcare are what will help energize students on the campaign.

He emphasized parts of the healthcare bill, such as allowing students to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they are 26, as part of Obama’s attractiveness to young people.

“That’s really important for a guy like me,” Todd said. “I think the biggest challenge is getting people excited about policy, which is always a struggle.”

The national campaign is confident that the youth vote will turn out for Obama again, even though poll numbers suggest that young people doubt the president’s
re-election prospects.

“Young people fueled the Obama campaign in 2008, and we expect to get that again this year,” said Valeisha Butterfield-Jones, national youth vote director for OFA. “Right now, we see plenty of enthusiasm. It’s very high. Students seem excited to get involved.”

On Tuesday night, OFA played host for a viewing party of Obama’s State of the Union address in Woodburn Hall. Campaign buttons and stickers that said “I’m in,” campaign literature and voter registration forms were passed out before the speech.

More than 50 people showed up.

Though lawmakers applauded multiple times during the president’s speech, the Democrats at IU were a little more hesitant, clapping the loudest when Obama talked about higher education.

“Some of the issues important to college students then are still important now,” Orizondo said. “I think in general, those kinds of inspiring aspects of the 2008 campaign are still alive now.”

Campaigners on campus said they are doing their best to capture that spirit to inspire and include as many students as possible.

Orizondo said OFA currently has four dorm captains who do door-to-door voter registration drives and other community organizing in the dorms on campus. They are also working on getting a phone bank on campus to reach out to even more possible voters.

“We want to make this organization as accessible to students as possible, and that means doing more on campus,” Orizondo said.

Although many critics say Obama has not done enough in his first three years in the White House to win in November, Todd said Obama’s victories, especially economically early in his term, will help him with re-election.

“He’s done an incredible job in the last three years,” Todd said. “Some people say he hasn’t done that much, and that’s just not true. I’m really excited to give him four more years. If you want to help, we will find a spot for you.”

— Margaret Ely contributed to this report