Spaghetti and Obama: Columbia Students Get Out the Vote

For the past two nights, the Students for Barack Obama chapter at Columbia University has met to prove that every vote counts. Out of a small lounge on the sixteenth floor of an unassuming dorm on 115^th Street, they made almost one thousand phone calls in only two nights. Every new person who walked into the lounge, which had been papered over with campaign posters, was excited to see people who shared their enthusiasm for Senator Obama’s message. Over homemade pasta with steaming tomato sauce, they called New Yorkers to identify supporters and to remind them to vote. The student volunteers are drawn from throughout the Columbia community. Some are deeply involved with politics on campus, while others have been so inspired by Obama’s message that they want to help in any way they can. One student put her second semester Spanish to good use, conversing with an interested voter, while another student spoke fluent Mandarin over the phone.

These students’ phone banking in this passionate Get Out the Vote effort defies the false expectation that New York is Clinton territory, and palpably demonstrates the excitement which surrounds Obama’s place in the presidential race. These sessions launch what will be a two week effort which will culminate with the elections on February 5th.

For more information contact Students for Barack Obama Director Mary McDonald at mcm2172@columbia.edu, 914.380.2250. Students for Barack Obama is a registered umbrella group of the Columbia University College Democrats.