Commencement Season Meets Campaign Season
about the author
Jordan J. Frasier is a staff writer for NextGen Journal. He’s a senior at George Mason University studying political science and journalism. Jordan is a news editor for Connect2mason.com and is a network news intern in Washington D.C. Connect with him on twitter @jordanjfrasier and at jordanjfrasier.com.
The 2012 race for the White House is undoubtedly off to a sluggish start, especially compared to the accelerated campaign cycle ahead of the 2008 election. But the slow beginning still has a few candidates and potential candidates participating in commencement season to deliver graduation speeches in key electoral states.
In 2007 the crowded field of presidential hopefuls meant nearly every candidate had a commencement speech on the books: Hillary Clinton was at Wilberforce University in Ohio, Barack Obama took the podium at Southern New Hampshire University; John Edwards was also in the Granite State, while Rudy Giuliani spoke in South Carolina, and Mitt Romney addressed students in Virginia.
The bookings reflected electoral strategy. New Hampshire boosted the first-in-the-nation primary election to be held in early 2008 and was a necessary win for any serious candidate, while Ohio would be important in the general election. Virginia was a swing state and up for anyone’s general election grabs, and South Carolina’s early primary vote meant another chance to make an early electoral showing.
But this year, with a less heated race, there are just a handful of presidential players taking to graduation stages in key states. President Obama spoke last month at Miami Dade College in Florida, a state with important Hispanic voters and twenty-nine electoral votes. First Lady Michelle Obama spoke earlier this month at the University of Northern Iowa, which will be an important Republican battleground early next year.
Former Republican governor of Utah and ambassador to China Jon Huntsman used his first commencement speech of the season at the University of South Carolina as a reintroduction of sorts after resigning his ambassadorship at the end of April. Huntsman is widely considered to be weighing a bid for the White House, and his appearance in the early primary state of South Carolina only fuels that speculation further.
The University of South Carolina’s newspaper, The Daily Gamecock, reports Huntsman’s speech was devoid of politics. The paper said Huntsman urged graduates to strive for innovation and to become leaders and also reported that “the speech didn’t directly reveal any 2012 presidential ambitions,” but noted that Huntsman’s status as a 2012 contender did attract “dozens of national media outlets,” including the New York Times and The Washington Post, to cover the speech.
Next week Huntsman will speak at Southern New Hampshire University – the same campus where then-candidate Obama spoke to the class of 2007. In that speech, Obama said, “I also want to thank Southern New Hampshire University for this honorary doctor of laws degree. I ended up paying for my first law degree for years and years, so for all of you with visions of law school, I’d consider running for president and then waiting for a commencement invite instead.”
Obama not only left New Hampshire with an honorary doctoral degree, the following winter he also won a tie in the state’s primary election – with he and then-senator Hillary Clinton each walking away with nine nominating delegates.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich official announced his plans to run for president yesterday, ahead of a commencement speech at Eureka College in Illinois on May 14. Former President Reagan is a Eureka alum, making the campus an important stop for a Republican presidential hopeful.
Possible presidential contenders New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani are also scheduled to give commencement speeches this season, but not in important electoral states. They will speak on a New Jersey and a New York campus, respectively.
More than 12 million college-age citizens voted in the 2008 presidential election, just 48 percent of the nearly 26 million college age votes up for grabs, according to the Census Bureau. College voters are an important electorate pool for presidential candidates, and commencement addresses are door-opening moments for candidates to make their pitch.
According to Pew Research Center, young people, even without their votes, are important to campaigns for their energy and ability to volunteer. In the 2008 election, young voters turned out in greater numbers than in the 2004 election, mostly for the Obama campaign, but Pew points out that those figures are reflective of campaign efforts to mobilize young people – something Pew says the Obama campaign did more of.
Pew found that young voters in battle ground states, like the states that often attract candidate commencement speakers, were more likely to have attended a campaign event and been active in campaign work during the 2008 cycle. That statistic shows a convergence between commencement and campaign might pay off for candidates later on in the election cycle with much needed college-age support.
