Young Obama supporter shopped around first
MILFORD For Delaware Valley High School senior Ryan Jameson, signing up for the Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics course proved to be one of the most important decisions he has ever made. The government class intrigued Jameson, as teacher Brian Blaum encouraged students to watch televised candidate debates and keep an eye on political news. Six months later, Jameson has attended several political rallies, participated in grassroots lobbying, and been unanimously elected as chairman of the Pike County for Obama Committee. In early November, the 18-year- old researched both conservative and liberal presidential candidates, eventually deciding he preferred the values and platform of Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Jameson has since phone-banked for Sen. Obama support in Ohio, New Jersey, and New York, and volunteered at an Obama headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y. He then decided to organize a support base in Pike County. “When it became obvious that Pennsylvania would be influential in the primaries, I went to a meeting in Pittston to learn how to become an Obama volunteer. You don’t really know about grassroots lobbying until you work on it,” said Jameson, who has now helped to register over 400 voters through both the Pike County for Obama Committee and the DVHS Election Club. The weekly meetings he instituted in January first took place at Sean Straub’s residence, but later moved to The Muir House when attendance increased from nine people to over 30. The committee, now made up of nearly 60 volunteers, currently meets in a room above Joey’s Pizza on W. Harford Street every Tuesday at 6 p.m. Ari Schoenholtz, Wayne and Pike County field organizer for the Obama campaign, has also joined the team for direction and counsel. As eager Obama fans continued to pour into meetings, Jameson, Schoenholtz and Straub invited Rory Kennedy, daughter of the late New York Sen. Robert Kennedy, to participate in an Obama rally in Milford. The Pike for Obama Committee had a “Bake for Barack” bake sale at the rally on Saturday, April 5, to raise campaign funds. In recent weeks, Jameson has met not only Ms. Kennedy, but also New York Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Obama himself. “I was asked to meet with Obama at the rally on Tuesday [April 1, at Wilkes University], as one of five others,” said Jameson. “We talked for ten minutes and he was very personable unlike Senator Clinton.” As Jameson learned more about government, he says he realized political problems do not lie in the politically uneducated public, but rather in the existence of “partisan politics,” the idea that parties are uncompromising and self-interested. “Obama works with both parties to get legislation passed, and he can look past the party divides,” said Jameson. When he isn’t campaigning for Senator Obama, Jameson participates in DVHS’s Drama Club, Election Club, Model United Nations Club, Student Council, Future Business Leaders of America, Teens Against Tobacco Use, Science Olympiad, and National Honor Society. He is also the Pike County American Cancer Society youth chairman and a Pennsylvania People to People student ambassador. “I stay after school for activities until 6, go to the Obama office until 8, and then go home and do my homework,” he said. “The only thing that keeps me sane is sitting down to dinner with these people. It’s been a pleasure to work with the volunteers these friendships are genuine.” This fall, Jameson will head to Washington D.C.’s American University, where the aspiring senator plans to study Political Science. Until then, catch Jameson brandishing Obama signs on street corners, dialing Democrats at the Harford Street office, or running around the high school campus.