f Yalei' She StiII eats in the dining halls and goesry of the same clubs and meetings that she wentne as a student.'continued involvement with the University has

first entered office."I haven't decided yet/' she said with a laugh. "It's a

little far away."

Interns hit campaign trailBY GIANIiA I()HNN

S]P RTPORTER

For many teenagers, summer isthe perfect time to catch up on somemuch-needed sleep and earn a littlemoney. But for the handful of stu-dents working on the ConnecticutCongressional campaigns, this sum -mer has been aperiod of political dis-covery and an indispensable experi-ence.

At the beginning of the year, Sen-ator foe Lieberman '63 LAW '65announced his decision to retire andnot seek re-election in November.This declaration opened up a spot inthe Senate and motivated a number oflocal politicians to put together cam-paigns, first to win their party nom-ination and then to compete in thegeneral election in November.

By the summer, it was clear thatformer WWE CEO Linda McMa-hon andformer House member ChrisShays would be competing to be Con-necticut's GOP candidate, while staterepresentative Chris Murphy and for-mer Connecticut Secretary of StateSusan Bysiewicz '83 were in the run-ning for the Democratic endorse-ment.

For the candidates, campaign sea-son was a competitive and stressfultime. For local students, it meant achance to build up their political skillsand get some real-world experience.

"The experience was nothingbut exciting," said fustin Ahern, ar7-year-oldhiglr school student fromShelton, Conn. " It was non- stop hardwork, but I'm glad that I did it. It wasfor a great cause and that's all thatmatters."

Ahern was just one of many young,energetic interns who worked forShays this summer. The self-pro-claimed history buff identifies as a"conservative with a lot of libertar-ian values." He also has an admirablework ethic that propelledhimto wakeup at 4 a.m. sometimes, just to handout campaign literature to commutersat the Stratford train station.

"You need to be able to free timeup, wake up early on some days, andalways come in excited with a mind-set of winning j'he said.

But what kind of work can a stu-dent contribute to a serious politicalcampaign? For Shays' interus, theirmost important job was competing to

attract voters on a much smallerbud-get than Republican rival McMahon.

"The job included a lot of directcommunication with voters," Ahernexplained. "The office was alwaysbusywithpeople coming in and out tohelp with phone calls, spreadsheets,fundraising . . . and trying to reach asmany people as we could while com-peting against millions of dollarsl'

Unfortunately for Ahern and therest of Shays' campaign team, theircandidate did not receive favorablenews when Thesday's primaries con-cluded. Still, according to Ahern, theloss did not produce a feeling of fail-ure among the adolescent interns.

You have to be willing to do a

that you care about what

ANDREW CONNERY'13lntern for Chris Murphy's campaign

"We did all we could to prove thatdedication could overcome money.We were unsuccessful in that, but weare proud of what we did," he said.

Although the outcome of Con-necticut's recent primaries were sub-optimal for Shays, and has eliminatedhim from winning a seat in the Sen-ate, it means the converse for Mur-phy. However, despite glaring differ-ences betweenthe two Congressmen,it appears that both Democratic andRepublican interns have similar phi-losophies when it comes to workingonacampaign.

Andrew Connery' t3, a zo-year-old Yale student from Norman, Okla.,said, "You have to be willing to do alot of hard work. It really helps thatyou care about what you're doing . . .commitment and motivation are keyJ'

At the beginning of the summer,Connery's internship was similar toAhern's; he made calls to attract vot-ers and helped out at the New Havenoffice. This quickly changed as theprimaries drew near. Connery's lead-ership skills were put to the test, and

he became the campaign's volunteercoordinator. With this title he wasable to manage the progress of thephone banks and direct volunteerswho were field canvassing for Mur-phy. By the time the primaries camearound, they had "knocked on about3ooo doors with only 20 to 30 peo-ple," an impressive feat for a youngcollege student to accomplish.

Both interns said that they learneda significant amount while workingfor their respective candidates. Con-nery said that "campaigns are a redlyinteresting opportunity to take whatI've studied and see what it looks likeon the ground in the real world, asopposed to what it looks like in theclassrooms at Yalei'

Murphy ended this summervieto-riously, and his hardworking team ofinterns can be credited with garner-ing much of the public support for hiscampaign.

"We were an important part of theteam and helped laid the ground workfor what will happen in the generalelectionj' Connery added.

Looking back on the zoro Con-gressiond primaries, it appears thatConnery could be right.

Two years ago, Richard Blumen-thal LAW '73 was running for a seatin the Senate , and Kaylie Hans on, 24 ,of Greenwich, Conn, worked as anintern onhis campaign.

As a recent graduate from the Uni-versity of Michigan, Hanson wastrusted with a myriad of difficulttasks. Her hard work, combined withthe rest of the interns, paid off whenBlumenthal won the general electioninNovember of zoro.

"I did voter research, categorizedspeeches, helped keep track of dona-tions with the finance team, attendedrallies as a cheerleader for the cam-paign," she said. "Some internshipswill just give you busy work, but cam-paign interns always do work that iscrucial to the campeign, and the can-didates really appreciate it."

Experience in a fast-paced, high-intensity political campaign will bean asset for these interns when theyapplyfor jobs with similar amounts ofpressrue and responsibility, Hansonsaid. Having a Conglessiond intern-ship has certainly helped her - shebegan working full-time for SenatorBlumenthal in Washington D.C. afterhe was elected,

lot of hard work. lt really helps

you're doing... commitmentand motivation are key.