by John McCormick and Christi Parsons
IOWA CITY — The epicenter of political activism in Iowa’s largest college town is the retail level of a four-story brick apartment building at the corner of Gilbert and College Streets.
Tenants include the local presidential campaign offices for Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Republican Rudolph Giuliani, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.).
“When there was a tornado warning this summer and everyone had to go down to the parking ramp for shelter, people joked there was going to be a remake of ‘West Side Story,’ ” said Tia Upchurch-Freelove, 19, a leader of Students for Obama at the University of Iowa.
For now, however, the street fighting for the college vote is only starting to simmer, as the campaigns seek to harness voters whose activism often stops short of actual voting.
With the first balloting just more than two months away, the Democratic campaigns in particular are intensifying their courtship, offering everything from training on how to participate in the Iowa caucuses to free housing in January when many dorms will be closed for winter break.
In trying to tap the campus vote across the state, the campaigns are going after a niche audience, just as they are with Latinos, veterans and farmers, all in an effort to build a winning coalition of voters.
With as few as 50,000 votes potentially yielding a win in Iowa, the state’s tens of thousands of college students present a tantalizing target. Some will caucus near their schools, while others, at home on break, could have even greater influence by participating in small towns.
Read the rest of the story in Tuesday’s Tribune.