The people you’ll run into in Des Moines

By Liam Collins

I never stepped foot into the site of the last democratic presidential primary debate at Drake University, but I met some political celebrities of my own.

The first thing you need to know before reading this: I am a total political nerd. I spend most of my free time watching CNN or CBS News, or taking online quizzes to see how many United States senators I can name. So, I know a political celebrity when I see one.

After all of the political science students on our trip went into the debate hall to watch the show and two of our journalism students went into the spin room, the rest of the journalism students were off to cover where the stories were going to be taking place: Outside (in Des Moines in January, I might remind you). We were aware of three debate watch parties taking place: One for Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, one for Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, and one hosted by Young Democrats of Iowa. There were also protests going on outside the building where the debate was being held. We split up, and I ended up covering the protests that were being held.

We were filming a demonstration against the military conflict in Iran next to NBC News and Info Wars when I heard the speaker say, “where’s Turner?” I had no idea who ‘Turner’ was (or at least I thought). After a few moments, Ian and I started walking away toward a different protest. That’s when I heard, “Here’s Ohio State Senator Nina Turner!” Again, keep in mind that I’m a total political nerd, and while most people would have no idea who she was, I knew that she was an up-and-coming political star who was one of the first people to endorse Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the primary. I immediately turned ourselves around to cover what she had to say. She gave her speech, and then afterwards she started walking off when I asked her for a question. She brushed me off. I told her I was with student media, and she her head shot around and said, “sure!” and gave one of the best interviews I ever had.

We wrapped up there and headed to the Amy Klobuchar watch party. It was pretty basic coverage. We were looking for a story, while covering how the crowd was reacting to the debate. When it was over, we were walking around talking to the audience getting reactions when a man walked up to us and said, “if you want a good interview, talk to them,” and pointed to an elderly couple sitting at a table. So I asked them if I could interview them and they agreed.

“What did you think of Amy Klobuchar’s debate performance tonight?” I asked. “I thought she was dynamite!” the man said. To which, the woman responded, “Well, we’re a little biased, we’re her in-laws.”

After that fantastic interview where Marilyn and Bill Bessler told us about how much their daughter-in-law love her nieces and nephews, and how their son was a strong advocate for ending the death penalty, our night of star-gazing was far from over. In our hotel l

After that fantastic interview where Marilyn and Bill Bessler told us about how much their daughter-in-law love her nieces and nephews, and how their son was a strong advocate for ending the death penalty, our night of star-gazing was far from over. In our hotel lobby, within a 30-minute span, we would see Amy Klobuchar herself, CNN anchors Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo, and Van Jones, CNN reporter Nia Malika-Henderson, former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, and as I was writing this we spoke with former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. And that was all in one night.

This trip has been a dream! The opportunities that an Elon education continues to afford is unmatched. It’s opportunities like these that remind me just how lucky I am to attend a university like Elon. Having the opportunity to speak, take pictures, and often times interview so many people to whom I look up, respect and are interested in learning more about is an opportunity we never would have gotten without popping the Elon bubble.