Thursday, April 24, 2008
While other college students will attend back to school parties and settle into their classes, one KU student will help shape the future of the U.S. as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention.
Clarissa Unger, state coordinator of Students for Barack Obama, was one of only three students from the state of Kansas elected on April 12 to represent Obama at the convention.
Unger, Colby junior, was the only KU student elected as a delegate to the convention from the Kansas Democratic Party’s District Conventions.
Unger said her selection was significant because in the third district, two of the delegates elected were state representatives, another was a field organizer for Obama’s campaign, one was an Iraq war veteran and one was a soldier’s mother.
“I guess I gave a good speech,” Unger said. “I guess it was just compelling enough that people voted for me.”
Hilary Tilkens, an Omaha, Neb., senior who attended the third district’s convention as an Obama delegate but was not elected to the national convention, said she would try for one of Kansas’ 11 state delegate seats at the state convention on May 17.
Tilkens, who helped organize the Douglas County Fairgrounds caucus, said she was glad Unger was chosen at the district convention because Unger had put a large amount of time into Obama’s campaign. She said Unger’s election showed that the stereotype about college students and their lack of interest in politics was not true.
“This just kind of goes to prove that some of us do care and some of us are really, really passionate about this,” Tilkens said.
State Rep. Paul Davis, a Lawrence Democrat who was also elected as a delegate to the national convention, said Unger’s election was significant because traditionally, few youth from Kansas were elected.
Davis, 35, has worked in the party since 1992. He said usually, only people who had worked in the party for many years received spots. Davis said he was younger than the people who were usually selected.
“I’m really excited to see younger people get involved and get elected,” Davis said. “They deserve to be represented at the conventions because there are so many young people who have gotten involved in the Obama campaign and have played a role in its success.”
The other two students elected as delegates to the national convention were high school students from the second and fourth districts. Lawrence falls in the second and third of Kansas’ four congressional districts. No delegates under 40 years old were chosen to represent Hillary Clinton.
In 2004, no KU students were chosen as delegates to the national convention.
Unger said she was excited to represent the youth of Kansas and to be able to vote on the Democratic Party’s platforms at the convention.
Unger said that Obama’s campaign told her the trip would cost about $1,000, but that she would look into sharing costs with the other students from Kansas who were elected.
— Edited by Katherine Loeck
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