Holy Cross Students Witness History at Democratic Party
DCCC
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Katherine Geyer
Boston University News Service
November 8, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8– Before the confetti fell at the Democratic election party Tuesday night, Patrick Rodenbush predicted that the Democrats would regain control of the House and that the 3,000 Democrats in the large hotel ballroom would “go nuts.”
And within minutes, the 20-year-old Holy Cross student was proven doubly right.
Mr. Rodenbush is one of the 16 Holy Cross students spending the fall semester in the nation’s capital. The program has students interning at the White House, the State Department and with various senators, including Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., for whom Mr. Rodenbush interns.
He chose to go to Washington to “see how the process works” and went in the fall so that he could be there for the elections. He and fellow student Steven Hickey were volunteers at the election party hosted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. A big fan of politics, Mr. Rodenbush described the night as “definitely the highlight of the semester.”
The event featured likely new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who would become the first woman to hold that position. Joining her were possible Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and several House members who are part of Ms. Pelosi’s “30-something working group,” which she formed to engage the younger generation in the political process.
Bill Burton, communications director at the DCCC, estimated that one-third of those who attended the event were under the age of 30.
Among the top issues Ms. Pelosi and other speakers at the event mentioned were college tuition, affordable health care and the war in Iraq, which Mr. Rodenbush said was the reason that younger people have recently become more politically involved.
An estimated 10 million Americans under the age of 30 voted in Tuesday’s election, according to the Maryland-based Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. That would be an increase of 2 million from the 2002 midterm elections.
“The Iraq War has played a big role in that,” Mr. Rodenbush said. “Kids our age are over there fighting. They’re people we know and people we went to high school with.”
He added: “Our generation is defined by September 11th. I think people then realized how important government is in our lives.”
As for students’ political interest back at Holy Cross, he said a lot of the students are engaged in politics.
“Many students want to get involved and feel included,” he said. “It helps to see a 30-something standing up there, rather than somebody who is a lot older and might be out of touch with where you are as a student.”
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