Convention gets student fired up

By Jaime North
The Daily Item

September 06, 2008 05:06 am

— LEWISBURG -- Aaron Swinderman spent two weeks rubbing elbows with some of the top Democratic leaders in the country at the recent Democratic National Convention, including vice president candidate Sen. Joe Biden, but came away most impressed by the influx of young voters supporting the party's presidential campaign.
And now the political youth movement has the recent Lewisburg Area High School graduate rethinking his plans for law school.
Swinderman, 21, a current political science major at Dickinson College in Carlisle, was among 250 college students and faculty working the convention floor last week in Denver with The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars program helping the Democratic Party officially launch its presidential campaign.
Swinderman kept busy by interviewing delegates and public officials for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party's online coverage, handed out campaign material, listened to powerful speeches from party leaders -- including Gov. Howard Dean -- and scored credentials for three of the four key night events. Two of those nights featured moving speeches from Sen. Ted Kennedy and Sen. Barack Obama.
From it all Swinderman said he rediscovered a yearning to enter the political field after college.
"I was planning on taking a couple years off from politics after graduation to go to law school, but I was blown away at the convention at the amount of young delegates there," Swinderman said. "It seems like the youth is becoming more involved with the Democratic Party, which I'm pumped about. I see some great things on the horizon, and I would like to be a part of it."
Swinderman got his chance to attend the convention through a political science class on the presidential primaries taught last spring by executives with the Pennsylvania Democratic and Republican parties. Swinderman, a born Democrat, connected with party leader, Mary Isenhour, who led him to The Washington Center, which is an independent, nonprofit organization serving hundreds of colleges and universities by providing selected students challenging opportunities to work and learn in Washington, D.C.
From there, Swinderman was well on his way to securing a ticket to the biggest Democratic National Convention ever.
"I've always been interested in politics, so I knew this would be a great opportunity," Swinderman said. "I got a chance to meet a lot of different people, including Gov. Edward Rendell, Mayor (Michael) Nutter from Philadelphia and the daughter of Rep. Mark Cohen."
In addition to the interviews, Swinderman was also able to speak briefly with Biden, who Swinderman's describes as the right man for Obama's campaign.
"You can really tell he cares about blue collar people," Swinderman said. "He seemed very real, and he brings a lot of things to the table."
According to Swinderman, the highlight of the week was Obama's speech in INVESCO Field at Mile High.
"Obama was incredible," Swinderman said. "He blew me away at how well he captivated the crowd. It was amazing how many people were there who were all hearing what he said. He said something that rang true with each group there. He identified with everyone who was there, and there were a lot of people."
n E-mail comments to jnorth@dailyitem.com.