Watching returns from the dormitories on election night,
first-year UCLA student and Republican campaign volunteer Brent
Canter had to hold back his excitement as the networks hinted that
President Bush could maintain a narrow lead in Ohio. Across the
country in Washington D.C., fourth-year UCLA student Michelle
Singer was glued to the same news programs at the Democratic
National Committee’s headquarters, where she said the
atmosphere grew increasingly quiet as the night progressed. While
Canter and Singer represent viewpoints from divergent ends of the
U.S. political spectrum, the two share their passion for politics
and their belief that they can have a hand in molding the direction
that the country moves.
Starting young Canter, a political science and
jazz studies student, came to UCLA as an 18-year-old with political
experience already under his belt. After starting a club at
Crossroads High School in Santa Monica that hosted both Democratic
and Republican speakers, Canter decided he wanted to be more
involved in politics. So when Gubernatorial Recall Candidate Arnold
Schwarzenegger “set up shop” in Santa Monica, Canter
jumped at the opportunity to volunteer with the campaign. He
explained to voters the main purposes of the recall and helped
coordinate events for Schwarzenegger. “I was just trying to
ween my way in and see what political life was like,” he
said. Though Canter said he quit the campaign after deciding his
tastes differed from Schwarzennegger’s, the experience
enhanced his attraction to politics. It was in following the
Democratic primaries early this year that he realized he wanted to
help put Bush back in office. “I was so scared of what this
country might look like if Howard Dean became president. I’m
not the biggest Bush fan, (but) I believe Bush has a plan to make
(the United States) better,” he said. Canter went to work as
an intern at the Burbank headquarters of California’s
Republican party and Bush-Cheney campaign at the end of the school
year. His father, Ronald Canter, said he was thrilled that his son
got involved with politics at a young age. But he added that he was
not surprised because “that’s the way Brent is.”
Ronald said Canter reads the newspaper consistently, paying
particular attention to the opinion section. “I would like to
think it’s genetic, but I was never as motivated a person at
his age. … Besides his talent, he works hard at it. (If)
it’s something that catches his interest, he checks it
out,” Ronald said. One of the first events Canter attended as
a Bush-Cheney intern was a party for campaign workers. Karl Rove, a
Bush senior advisor, stole the show with a stump speech to pump up
Republican loyalists in California. “I was ecstatically
excited. My first reaction was this is where I want to be ““
Karl Rove was the man in the White House,” Canter said.
Though California is strongly Democratic today, with Kerry winning
by an 11-point margin, Canter believes the state could be red a few
elections down the line. The atmosphere in the Burbank office was
upbeat though the staff knew they faced an uphill battle in
California, Canter said. The office’s demographics were a far
stretch from the stereotypical Republican make-up that might come
to mind, he added. “Surprisingly, it was a lot of women
working in the Bush campaign. It was definitely a different
atmosphere than you’d expect. In a Republican office, all my
bosses were women,” he said. Canter ran through thousands of
e-mails and phone calls weekly and connected volunteers to leaders
in their precincts. He organized rallies and spoke with potential
donors. Manual labor such as packaging materials for shipping was
also common, he said. “It’s just such a fast-paced
thing,” Canter said, adding the mentality was “train as
you go.” As the calendar closed in on November, the party
shipped campaign workers off to swing states, Canter said. The
office grew quieter, but its work ethic did not change, he added.
Speaking a few days before the election, Canter said he was
confident Bush would win. He opted to pass election night in the
dorms instead of surrounding himself with the glitz of official
Republican party festivities in Orange County. “I was just
excited as hell. I was jumping around. … There’s going to
be a lot of exciting stuff (that) happens in the next four
years,” he said. As for his own future, Canter said his plans
are open ““ the time ahead could hold everything from law
school to a career playing jazz. If he runs for political office,
he says it won’t be until after he’s had a chance to
dabble in other industries and interests. But with his man in the
White House for four more years, Canter plans to accept an offer to
intern at the nation’s capital next summer.
Working for the future Singer, a fourth-year
political science and history student, has concrete plans for the
future. After taking a quarter off to work for the Democratic
National Committee in Washington, D.C., she sees herself working
behind-the-scenes for the party after her planned graduation this
spring. The path that led her to the capital began with an
internship with California Assemblyman Robert Hertzberg in 2002.
She moved on to work for Sen. Diane Feinstein in Santa Monica and
wound up with the Democratic National Committee in March.
“Washington has absolutely been the most incredible
experience of my life,” she said. “Everyone around you
knows something about politics and is interested in some way.
There’s nothing like walking past the capitol. … I know
I’ve chosen the right path,” she added. Her mother,
Joan Singer, said her daughter expressed interest in UCLA’s
Center for American Politics and Public Policy programs in
Washington, D.C., even before enrolling at the school.
“She’s willing to work really, really hard and be
persistent … to take on far more responsibility than I would have
been willing to accept at a comparable age,” Joan said. The
Democratic National Committee hired Singer to monitor the media as
campaigning on both sides intensified. Her summer consisted of long
days in front of the television and computer, transcribing and
keeping tabs on national and local broadcasts. After the
presidential debates, she participated in “rapid
response,” helping the campaign for Sen. John Kerry get the
maximum political advantage from the media’s coverage of
those events. “The first debate happened, and there was a
palpable change in the feeling of the campaign. … It was fun to
have a candidate who was succeeding,” she said. Singer worked
in the research department in an office of five, often coming in as
early as 6:45 a.m., and staying in the office until 8 or 11 p.m.
During the Republican convention, Singer and her colleagues got
into the office at 4 or 5 a.m. each day and didn’t leave
until after midnight. “Everyone spends so much time together
that you’re bound to become friends. … We watched the
morning shows; we watched the evening news,” she said. Joan
said though her daughter would call home and tell her about the
long hours, Singer never revealed information regarding specific
tasks. Much of Singer’s work, including the details on what
“rapid response” entailed, was meant to be
confidential. Singer spent election night in front of the same
television sets whose glow illuminated the office all summer. She
said she felt at the time that the Democrats had the momentum.
“The exit polls came out, and we were all kind of
pumped,” she said. But as the night continued,
“everyone started getting quieter and quieter and quieter,
and we were just watching the returns come in,” she said.
Though Kerry conceded to Bush the next morning, Singer said she
believes she and her colleagues accomplished a lot. Even while
devastated by the disappointment of losing, she said it’s a
time for Democrats to reflect on what went wrong and to regroup and
prepare for the next four years. “Ultimately, I believe in
what we’re fighting for. It sounds really idealistic, but I
believe in a better future for the American future, and I believe
that our party is the one that can give it,” she said.