Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Daughter of Ill. senator campaigns for Obama in Iowa
By Danny Wenger
Daily Egyptian (Southern Illinois U.)
10/26/2007

(U-WIRE) CARBONDALE, Ill. — Presidential hopeful Barack Obama recently got some assistance in his pursuit of the Democratic nomination from Carbondale, Ill., residents.

Sheila Simon, daughter of the late Sen. Paul Simon and a former Carbondale mayoral candidate, traveled to Keokuk, Iowa, to campaign for Obama. Simon and nine others from Carbondale chose the state because it is home to a November caucus, which is traditionally an important indicator of who could be chosen for the party nomination.

According to a Gallup election review published Tuesday, more Democrats view Hillary Clinton favorably than John Edwards or Obama. Clinton has consistently been ahead of the other candidates, and a poll conducted Oct. 12 through Oct. 14 indicated Clinton was ahead of Obama by a margin of 29 percentage points.

Simon said she went door-to-door with her husband giving information to voters about Obama to help gain their support.

"The folks in Iowa really know their political muscle," she said. "It's not a decision that they take lightly, so we stopped and talked for a while with people who did want more information."

Simon is experienced in campaigning in Iowa, having done so for her father when he was in the running for nomination nearly 20 years ago.

"It was kind of a fun occasion to relive some stories and tell those to our high school daughter," Simon said.

Rep. Mike Bost, R-Carbondale, said the Iowa caucus is important because it is the first state caucus on the schedule.

"It used to be that it was so important because if you didn't win it, odds are you didn't win (the election)," Bost said.

Bost said the caucus is different than primary elections held by other states. In a caucus, a central committee is brought together to vote on whom the delegates from Iowa would support. The delegates then go to their party's national convention to vote on which candidate would run on their ticket.

"Whatever caucus they have, and whoever wins it, all of the delegates are locked to support that particular candidate," Bost said.

Jonathan Bean, a history professor at Southern Illinois University and faculty adviser to College Republicans, said Republican students made a trip to Iowa to campaign and show support during the last election, but he doesn't know if they will this time.

Simon said she is planning to go back to Keokuk twice more in November.

Reilly Knop, Simon's 17-year-old daughter and student at Carbondale Community High School joined Simon on the trip and said she would go again. She also said, several of her classmates are interested in campaigning.

"My whole first hour class wants to come up with us, so we're hopefully going to have a lot more people next time from the high school," she said.

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