Greetings from Denver!

As most Drake students settle into the dorms and anticipate the start of the fall semester, a small group of students have ventured forth to the Mile-High City to witness the Democratic National Convention. For the uninitiated, I’m Dr. Rachel Paine Caufield, in Drake’s Politics and International Relations department and I’ll be one of the contributors to this blog, but I’ll leave the vast majority of commentary (and work) to the students. In the meantime, here’s a brief overview of what we’re doing.

One of the most wonderful things about being a politically-minded professor at Drake is seeing generations of students get involved in politics through the Iowa caucuses. It’s an amazing experience for them (and for us), and it’s heartening to see young voters be active and engaged.

Since it’s impossible to go through a caucus and not be excited about the election itself, Dr. Lee Jolliffe (professor of Journalism at Drake) and I decided to become faculty leaders for The Washington Center’s Campaign 2008 program. (You can check out the program at www.twc.edu). The Washington Center’s goal is to bring students from all over the world together to learn about and experience the conventions firsthand. Participating for the first time this year, we Drake folks have a remarkable opportunity; after seeing Barack Obama win the Iowa caucuses, we Iowans can now witness an historic moment when he accepts the Democratic Party’s nomination for president at Invesco Field next Thursday night.

So here we are. We have three Drake journalism students and seven Drake politics students with us. And, lest anyone think that we’re just having fun out here, let me assure you that we are keeping very busy. Every morning, students and faculty join here at Regis University (which has been gracious enough to delay their academic calendar for a week to accommodate us) for 4 hours of guest speakers and lectures by two of the nation’s leading presidency scholars, Tom Cronin and Michael Genovese. Then we meet in small groups for discussion amid any number of special events (a trip to Invesco Field last night, a trip to the Pepsi Center for tours of the convention hall tomorrow afternoon, with a special appearance by Howard Dean). Every student will also do fieldwork – they’ll be volunteering with media organizations, interest groups, the DNC, the DNCC (Convention Committee), the Host Committee, and state party delegations, plus helping with events like the Emily’s List reception (special guests Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Michelle Obama) and a Rock the Vote concert headlining Fall Out Boy.

Although most of our contributors are Drake students, we’ve joined with students from the University of Missouri, the University of South Dakota and Hastings College. We’ll try to let you know who’s who as we go. A few of our politics students hesitate to blog openly about their political leanings, lest it limit opportunities later; those students we’ll allow to write under pen names.

I’ll also introduce Jordan Oster, a Drake Politics major who is an elected Obama delegate at the age of 21. Anyone who wants to know more about Jordan can see his interview with MTV: http://think.mtv.com/044FDFFFF00989EBC001700992772/. We hope he’ll chime in from time to time to share his experiences.

As we await word of the vice presidential candidate, ponder the long and tortuous road that has been Barack Obama’s campaign, and think about the future of the party, the presidency, and the country, it’s pretty special to know that we get to go “from caucus to convention.” The next stop is the inauguration (yup, we’ll be there too).