The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Victory in Iowa

"Will you be able to gather up ten of your members to come to Iowa to campaign the week before the election?" was the question I was asked by the Republican National Committee a few weeks before the election. I hesitantly said that I could, not knowing how many College Republicans would actually be willing to drop everything and miss class to perform an important civic duty. Within two hours, I called back with a question for them: "Can I bring 30?"

In the blink of an eye, we boarded the bus and headed to Des Moines, not knowing or caring what we would have to do. We only knew that the future of America was at stake and that we were asked to help define the outcome of one of the most important presidential elections in history. We knew that Illinois would be a blue state and we were determined to paint Iowa red.

Upon crossing the state line, our bus was rocked by heavy winds and a powerful storm which kept us nervous and paying closer attention to the conditions outside than the movie that was shown over the television screens that lined the bus. This feeling of uncertainty was just the jolt that we needed to realize that within a heartbeat, anything could change, from the weather to the election. In Iowa, we started our day at the Republican headquarters around 7 a.m. organizing our plan of attack. Some nights, we did not stop campaigning until around 11:30 p.m., doing midnight sign drops in the yards of supporters that had requested them (or had them stolen). We knocked on countless doors and made enough phone calls to heavily contribute to a phone bill for the headquarters that amounted to well over $17,000. We were one of the first groups to ever utilize new polling technology brought about by Karl Rove, which involved uploading information via PDA's directly to the Republican National Committee in Washington D.C.

For us, these 72 hours were the final two minutes of the Superbowl. This was our bottom of the ninth in game seven of the World Series. We treated it as such. We poured our minds, hearts, and bodies into doing whatever was necessary to win. We came off the field unified and realizing the power of our teamwork. Getting a good night's sleep was not a priority when the outcome of election could depend on the work that you do.

During our trip we shook hands with President Bush, and many of us met the First Lady and Jenna and Barbara. We met members of the Bush family that were incredibly gracious for the work we were doing. George P. Bush had even gotten on the phone with one of the SIU College Republican's mothers to let her know what a great job we were doing and the difference that we were making this election in Iowa.

To say that we worked hard would be an understatement. Although none of us wanted to leave Iowa, feeling we could have done more, we boarded the bus and headed home late afternoon on Nov. 2. We didn't know the outcome of the election, but we started realizing that we did all that we could. We made incredible bonds, friendships and memories with ourselves and the Republican Party of Iowa. All we could do now was to play the waiting game and hope that we did enough to put Bush over the top.

We kept our cell phones on, waiting for calls regarding the outcome of the election the entire bus ride back to Illinois. It was not until the next few days that we found out we had gotten Iowa's seven electoral votes. Bush beat Kerry in Iowa by a mere 13,498 votes. We made the difference. The quote on the back of our shirts sums up what we had believed all along, "If your civic duty isn't a good enough reason to miss a few days of class, then what is?"

John is president of the SIU College Republicans. Right On appears every Wednesday. These views do not necessarily reflect those of the DAILY EGYPTIAN.

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