Two MSU students and Trustee Dave Porteous were named to the Bush-Cheney 2004 re-election leadership team Friday alongside veteran politicians, established business executives and millionaires.
The early "grass-roots" campaign comes about a year before the 2004 election and focuses on states that were won or lost by less than 5-point margins in the 2000 election, said Marc Racicot, campaign chair for Bush-Cheney '04 from the Marriott East Lansing University Place, 300 M.A.C. Ave. Michigan was barely taken by then-Vice President Al Gore in 2000.
Teams in Oregon and Iowa also were named during the weekend.
Racicot said while other campaigns might spend more money, focusing on swing states such as Michigan early will help.
"Our leadership team in Michigan is made up of a diverse group of men and women with a great understanding of both President Bush's compassionate conservative agenda and common-sense policies," Racicot said to Republican supporters helping to gain Michigan's 17 electoral votes.
Porteous will serve on the Michigan steering committee. He could not be reached for comment Sunday.
Tim Phelps, a political theory sophomore and political director for the Michigan Federation of College Republicans, and Laura Hamlin, an agriculture communication junior and press assistant for U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton., were two of about four college students named to the campaign.
"It's absolutely essential to have younger men and women involved," Racicot said. "We'll take them all, as many ambassadors and as many soldiers as we can find."
Both will serve on the Michigan steering committee, organizing support to re-elect Bush throughout the swing state.
"MSU has a strong base," Hamlin said of focusing on organizing youth for Bush. "I'm excited to get them active."
U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, will serve as general chairwoman with co-chairs Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land.
Land and Cox started their work immediately Friday as they promoted Bush's efforts to combat terrorism and improve education.
As the team was announced in East Lansing, seven democratic presidential candidates spoke in person or via satellite to a conference in Dearborn hosted by the Arab American Institute.
Farhan Bhatti, an MSU physiology senior and State News columnist, was picked to escort former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean during his visit to Michigan.
Bhatti, who is serving as Midwest coordinator for Generation Dean, said he was able to sit in on interviews with foreign press and supporters.
"It was a refreshing experience," Bhatti said. "To meet him face to face and to know he appreciated what I was doing."
