By Steph Attias

Bright and early this morning I hopped on the bus and got ready for my first day volunteering for Pete Buttigieg’s Presidential Campaign. I was ready to see if my experience matched up to what I’d learned about in school and from watching the West Wing. Pete’s field office in Fleur is simple, feeling almost like a basement apartment. Pete’s face and posters line the walls but other that their is a true lack of grandeur. This basicness emphasizes the truly democratic process that is taking place. Many small rooms full for passionate staffers and volunteers work to build up an organization get a person elected to office. It’s no longer party leaders in smoke filled rooms which choose the parties candidate but the people. Iowa is full of energized Americans knocking on door, making phone calls, and holding events in order to persuade people the values of the candidate they believe in. 

I spent much of the day phone banking, which meant many, many phone calls much of which when straight to voicemail but also the opportunity to speak to Iowans. As a Pete supporter myself I was pleased to hear so many Iowans be not only aware of Pete Buttigieg but having him be within their top three favorite candidates. This is a sentiment I’d read about in the media and was glad to be seeing the same results for myself. This in itself is incredible, rapidly Pete has gone from an unknown mayor from Indiana to a real player in the 2020 presidential election. As I spend much of the day telling Iowans, Pete will be in Des Moines on Sunday and I’m looking forward to hearing him speak in person. 

I find caucus to be fascinating as I come from a state that does primaries. Lots of people in a room all ready for Democracy to take place right in front of them, yes please. However something that Iowans told me was about the challenges that come with a caucus especially on the elderly and people who don’t think crowds. Many people I spoke to were in their sixties, seventies, and eighties, which is going to become more and more of the trend as America’s population is aging. This caucus style can serve as a burden to them, attending would be too difficult or overwhelming, preventing them from sharing their voice and voting. This can also be problematic for people who are out of state on caucus day as there is no absentee caucus. These issues are things  I’d never thought about. Prior to this I believed changing Iowa to a primary would be disappointing due to Iowa’s long history of having one, but now I’m not so sure. No one should be prevent by unnecessary burdens preventing their right to vote. This aside, there is projected to be a historic voter turnout at the Iowa caucus. I’m looking forward to helping out in any way I can! 

By: Andrea Sheetz

As a very eager prospective student, I spent much of my senior year of high school browsing the website of Elon University. Probably more often than they would have liked, I reported to my family and friends what super cool thing Elon was doing, and thus what opportunity I would soon have. One of these was the 2016 Winter Term class. I had not yet decided on a school when I first saw an article about students traveling to Des Moines ahead of the Iowa Caucuses. But I did know that any university that recognized what an unparalleled political education a trip such as that one could bring was worth serious consideration.

Here I am, four years after that original course, in a hotel room in Des Moines. In complete honesty, I have not been as excited as I thought I would be. Perhaps it has been such a long time coming that I have become numb. Also, the nature of the events we will be attending makes it impossible to have a set itinerary even a few days in advance, so I do not know what exactly I could be excited about. It does not help either, that the candidate I most admired and planned to work with for months ended his campaign less than a week before our plane took off. While my class discussions have been fantastic and the idea of all I have been told we will experience thrills me, I have been worried that these 12 days will not live up to what I have created them to be. 

However, a big lesson I’ve learned in college so far is that you get out of experiences what you put into them. One piece of advice we were given was to talk to people on the ground. We are here to learn about the Caucus and all that surrounds it, and every person we encounter has a different perspective. Maybe it was that idea, or my many cups of coffee and far too many hours traveling, but I began to surprise myself from our first night in Des Moines. Now, striking up a conversation with a total stranger, especially about their politics, completely mortifies me. But in the hotel elevator that first night, a gentleman made a comment about the weather and instead of politely agreeing and ending it there, as I very much enjoy doing, I asked what he was doing in town, and shared why I was here. He actually knew some people I know at Elon and we made a connection. Later that evening at dinner, I found myself walking up to a table full of fellow students who all knew each other, and I had first talked to that morning, half of whom I did not know the names of, and asking to join them. We ended up having a wonderful conversation, some surface-level getting to know you, but more about hard topics and where we agree and disagree on them. We did not convince each other. But we all gave one another the utmost respect, had some laughs in between, and I feel as though I left with a much better idea of the issue, and my new friends. Our school only has 6,000 students, but it took traveling 1,000 miles to bring us together.

I hope to maintain this continual putting myself out there, trying new things, and being completely open to new ideas. Maybe I’ll fly home supporting the exact same people and stances as I do today. Maybe they’ll be radically different. But in just a few hours, I found that the only thing that will keep these 12 days from being all they could be is an unwillingness to learn about and appreciate each of the individual people and small aspects that make the Caucus what it is.

By: Morgan Behrens

On the eve of our first official day volunteering in Iowa, I find myself getting more and more excited to get involved. I am currently a senior, and I have been anticipating this trip since I heard about it as a freshman. I have always been very interested in politics. I have even spent a good amount of time in the past interning and volunteering both for political campaigns as well as in political offices. However, being in Iowa, this close to a monumental event such as the caucus has brought a whole other layer of excitement. 

This past summer, I was so excited to work as an organizer on the Castro campaign in the great state of New Hampshire (#FITN). After working this job, I was even more energized to get involved in politics in the future. However, it left me wondering if this trip would be worth it for me as I felt I had a great experience that gave me a deep understanding of presidential campaigns and primaries. I have since found that there is so much more for me to learn about. 

Iowa, while also a state with an early primary, is entirely different from New Hampshire with a different culture, demographics, and a different relationship to politics. Also, as Julian Castro ended his presidential bid, I will be working for the Democratic Party. I am so excited about this new experience and for everything that I will be able to learn.

By Kara Chalifoux

The race to the White House may have began long ago for Presidential Candidates; however, Elon students are fresh off the plane and ready to jump in for the first major competition, the Iowa Caucus.

It is finally setting in that this trip is real. Sure, I’ve been beyond excited to go on this trip, but Iowa felt so distant, watching the candidates on TV felt so distant. Yet in a few short hours, both will be right in front of me and quite honestly I don’t think I’ve fully grasped the gravity of the insight I am going to experience first-hand from the presidential candidates and Iowans themselves. I’ve never even met anyone from Iowa. The Midwest? Certainly. But never someone who has participated in a caucus, let alone lived in this part of the heartland. It will be interesting to contrast what I know Virginia voters value in candidates and policies with those of Iowa.

Interestingly, I have only worked on Republican campaigns, both congressional and gubernatorial. I am excited to see the differences between how parties target and deploy resources to gain support and traction. Further, I am interested to speak to voters. Typically if you represent a candidate that the constituent you are canvassing disagrees with, they are less conversational and don’t seek to offer insight into their reasoning, likely because they are worried I will try to persuade them otherwise. My hope for this trip is that working for a moderate Democrat like Joe Biden will help cultivate mutually beneficial conversations for myself and the Iowans I encounter!

In the weeks leading up to this trip, I have quickly been reminded to not have expectations (other than the fact that it will be cold, I haven’t seen snow since 2018). With a slightly entitled, but mainly just an overeager mindset, I believed that my previous campaign experience would be beyond valuable to the Biden campaign. However, I was humbled, rightfully so, when I found out that I would not get to spend time in the campaign office or helping to run events, like most of my previous experience, and instead be canvassing with the overall mass of volunteers. Perhaps, it is the large-scale aspect of this campaign that is seemingly shell shocking to me but I’ve come to learn that Biden’s campaign is a well-oiled machine and there is no time to make adjustments. Beyond this, there simply can’t be any expectations. The ever-changing campaign schedule mixed with the looming impeachment trial in the Senate has made planning even a draft of events to attend nearly impossible. Nobody knows what is to come in the next few weeks which makes this experience all the more interesting. It isn’t going to simply be defined by strategy out of a campaign book but rather influenced by real-time events that require immediate recognition. 

The Iowa Caucus is unlike anything else, but 2020 is unlike any year. 

Kara Chalifoux

By Jon Sarver Jr.

From the moment my alarm went off at 2 a.m., until the time the bus pulled into the airport in Raleigh-Durham International Airport, I was very stressed about flying to Iowa. I have almost no experience flying, and I was unsure of what to expect. That anxiety quickly faded thanks to the quick nature of moving through security, and help from my friends and professors. After getting through that experience, I was able to relax and enjoy the flight to Minnesota.

During the layover in Minneapolis, I got to enjoy lunch with some of the other journalism students on this trip. While the price of my cheeseburger was quite steep, I learned a lot at that lunch. I know most of them fairly well from working with them at Elon News Network, but I felt like I got to know them a little better. I hope that continues over the course of the next 10 days.

After the layover in Minnesota, the class took off for Des Moines. While I was anxious for the flying portion of this trip, I have been very excited to get to Iowa. I fully anticipate reporting in the weeks leading up to the Iowa Caucus will be incredible. I am looking forward to going out with my fellow journalism students and talking to candidates and voters, shooting photos and shooting video. I signed up for this trip hoping to gain experience in political reporting, which I do not have. I truly believe that this experience will make me a better journalist. 

By Emery Eisner

The view from the tiny airplane window is peaceful: the ever-familiar patchwork quilt of land we only ever saw in classic movies as kids, slowly growing smaller and groggier as it is obscured by the clouds. But according to Delta’s Flight Tracker feature, our ground speed is lightning-fast in comparison, hovering around 400 mph. This curious trick of perception is known as relative velocity, meaning more distant objects appear to move slowly.

The same can perhaps be said of this moment in history which all of us are fortunate enough to witness. We have reached a turning point that has the potential to change all our lives forever, and certainly has the potential to shape a generation. With our nation “at the edge of a war” and with several possibilities for making history at the close of this election, it seems that there is no better time to get our boots on the ground as reporters and political scholars. It is my hope that as we work for our candidates and work for our readers we can observe our surroundings from both vantage points: amidst the fast-paced, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it atmosphere where it feels gigantic, and from the perspective of being high in the air, seeing everything happen slowly and with much needed perspective. 

This election is going to be huge, there’s no question. The only thing yet to be written is our place within it, and how we can use our experiences to grow personally and change our world. The trail starts here: away we go.

By Maeve Ashbrook

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When I was a senior in high school, I remember my high school AP Government teacher’s unit on elections in the United States. I knew nothing about the election or voting process, but after a very thorough explanation using endless metaphors, I was fascinated, so fascinated that I decided that I wanted to consider going to law school. Two years later, I’m no longer considering law school, but I am on my way to Iowa to cover the 2020 caucus as a student journalist.

Even though we’re spending the day travelling from North Carolina to Iowa, that doesn’t mean that we’re not staying updated on everything in the news that could affect the caucuses. In fact, the student journalists on our trip stopped in the middle of the Minneapolis airport to listen to President Donald Trump address the nation after an Iraqi base housing US troops was attacked last night. While the tv’s in the airport were broadcasting the speech, the audio was not good quality, so we watched on our phones in the middle of the walkway. One woman even stopped to watch with us.

Now, with our coverage beginning tomorrow, I am interested to see how foreign policy debates affect conversations in Iowa. While foreign policy has not been a popular topic among presidential candidates as of yet, the threat of a possible war with Iran will put candidates’ opinions on foreign policy at the forefront, and this could help Iowa voters better differentiate candidate from candidate. Also, since we are covering the caucuses for the Elon community, an interesting question to ask candidates could be how going to war could affect college in the United States.

To think that just a little over two years ago I was sitting in an ugly classroom in the middle of Kansas learning about the Iowa Caucuses and now I’m on my way to cover them and interview the candidates in person is surreal. When you’re growing up and going through school, you learn so many details about obscure subjects, and its hard to understand how these facts and figures will shape your life. But, this trip goes to show that even what was once one of the most confusing subjects can morph into a life changing experience. I’m so excited to touch down in a state best known for its corn for the first time in 2020.

By Isabella Seman

Waking up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed we loaded our BioBus at 5 a.m. from the McMichael lot. A couple of us started loading all of the bags into the back, getting our workout in for the day. The back of the bus was so packed that if we came to a hard stop some luggage would fall onto the people in the back seats. There were not enough seats for everyone, so Professor Landesberg sat on luggage and held onto the seats for the ride to RDU.

I am currently sitting on the plane, in an exit row all to myself, to Minneapolis before our four hour layover. This quick flight gave me some time to think about the expectations for this trip. It’s funny because my dad asked for our itinerary, BUT everything changes to the point that we make up our plan of action the night before or the day of.  If you are a person that needs a structured plan, this trip is not for you. For a person like me, the unknown is always very exciting. 

There are many factors playing into our experience in Iowa. First, it is going to be COLD! For the students working on campaigns they will be knocking on doors. For the students working as journalists, we’ll be running around place to place. To say the least we brought a lot of hand warmers. 

The second factor that can affect our trip is what’s happening in the news and government. If Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls for the impeachment trial in the Senate, candidates like Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, and Elizabeth Warren will need to be in Washington, D.C. 

Last night, it was reported that Iran fired missiles at U.S. military shelters in Iraq following the death of Iran Leader Soleimani. This is all relevant to our trip because this helps us form the questions we are going to ask the candidates and voters for our stories. There is a chance we will get to work the next Democratic Debate, however if Speaker Pelosi calls the trial it will get pushed back to the day we leave. 

Luckily our flight has live television so we can watch the news and catch up on events we may have missed.

While in Iowa we will not have a day off. We will be working from early mornings to late nights. From what we have heard, our main meal will be breakfast, so we all packed many, many protein bars to get us through the day. 

We will also be meeting up with alum Gary Grumbach, Bernie Sanders’ embed reporter for NBC. He was on this trip last election and gave us some notable advice. 

I am very excited to learn and grow in journalism from some very talented people. Our class has gotten close over the past couple days and we all all very eager to hit the ground running. This experience is like no other and thanks to Elon University for the amazing opportunity, especially as a student-athlete. Most schools wouldn’t allow their athletes to leave for 12 days in off season, and for that I am very grateful.

By Liam Collins

Before landing in the Hawkeye State, the physical differences were very real. I’ve never been to Iowa. I’ve never even been to the Midwest. I was born-and-raised in a town nestled between the mountains, New York City and the Long Island Sound. I thought North Carolina was flat and wide. But staring out from a plane nearly 35,000 feet above the earth to a land I never knew could be so flush was surreal. Politics aside, it grounded the experience that this group is about to have.

Sure, the opportunity to interact with presidential candidates and citizens that take their role of selecting the next president so seriously is invaluable, and I think I can speak for this entire group when I say it’s the main reason why we’re all here. But these flat plains make me realize that understanding the role of the Iowa Caucuses in presidential politics is not the only thing we should be getting out of this trip. The gravitas of these wide open grounds reminds me that I’m going to a part of the country to interact with people in an element I’ll never be able to understand, but can only begin to grasp by dropping in on Iowa territory. 

Over the next two weeks, I plan on, of course, talking to candidates for president, asking the hard questions and trying to get a grasp on where the Iowa Caucuses may go and how they work. But I’m not just here to study the politics, I’m also here to study the people. Dr. Landesberg and Dr. Dalhouse have both been drilling into our brains that we should be talking to Iowans. I, of course, have always planned on doing that. But the gravity of why we need to be doing that hit me in the pit of my stomach when studying the subtle beauty of the flat earth that is often lumped in to why people have no interest in visiting middle America to begin with. Someone lives here. And I can’t wait to meet them.