Students campaign, show support in Iowa contest

When I decided to travel across two states to campaign for someone I had never met and a candidate almost no one had heard of a year ago, I still wasn't exactly sure what drove me to volunteer for former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.\nFor months, I had been hearing about how Dean had formed the "greatest grassroots campaign of the modern era." I was skeptical. I knew college students from around the country were descending upon Iowa in what Dean's campaign dubbed "The Perfect Storm."\nThe campaign said it would provide accommodations for us at the Abe Lincoln campgrounds in Davenport, but we couldn't even find the camp. The next morning, we went back to the Dean office to find ourselves playing supermarket bagboy -- picking up boxes of granola bars and bottled water for hard-working Dean volunteers. Hi, democracy.\nWhen we got back, I was told that Dean would be stopping in Davenport the next day in one of his last speeches before the caucuses. My friend and I had joked about seeing Dean while we were in Iowa and what we would say to him if we did. But we didn't think he'd show up in Davenport.\nWe went through a 20-minute training session on how to canvass, which is essentially walking in blistering cold asking registered Democrats and Independents if they would attend the caucuses.\nSome said they were strongly for Dean and they would attend the Monday caucus.A handful said they were for another Democrat. A few said they weren't attending the caucuses. A couple said, "What are caucuses?"\nThat night, as my friend and I drove by the Dean campaign headquarters, my friend thought he saw Dean inside. We parked and ran up the street. \nDean wasn't there, but Jesse Jackson, Jr. was. I'm not sure how my friend confused the two.\nWe woke up the next day knowing we would see Dean speak right before we headed home.\nThe day before, after going to 74 houses, we got 13 saying they would be attending the caucuses for Dean. Sunday, we got zero.\nWe went back to the offices with our results and decided to head to West High School an hour and a half early to get a good spot to see Dean. We were first row, ready to see someone we had never spoken to, but had been trekking around Davenport Precinct 81 for in the cold without gloves.\nWe waited and, after an hour, former Gov. Dean, his wife and Sen. Harkin took the stage.\nDean didn't lay out specific policies. It was too late for that. It was simply motivation for voters to "give President Bush a one-way bus ticket to Crawford, Texas"\nAfter he finished, we tried to push through the crowd to at least shake Dean's hand. I was thinking about what I would do when he came by. Should I let him know what I think about his health care policy? Should I say good luck? What if I have him sign my poster?\nHe finally walked to where I was standing.\n"Thank you for coming, Gov. Dean," I said.\nHe said, "Thank you."\nThat was it. He didn't know I came from Indiana just for him, or how I missed my long weekend from school, or how I didn't own a good pair of gloves. But I guess he had bigger things to worry about.\nWe got in the car and headed home, hoping we somehow contributed by getting granola bars, visiting houses and handing out pamphlets, but never really knowing if we made a difference.