RTWH 2004: 21 students on 7 campaigns
RTWH 2008: 19 students on 11 campaigns
RTWH 2012: 21 students on 6 campaigns
RTWH 2016: 23 students on 7 campaigns
and 2020: 29 students on 8 campaigns
Hard to believe that this is the fifth (5!) time I have taught this quadrennial course. Prior to returning to academia I worked at the White House and on presidential campaigns. It was my dream to develop a Road to the White House course -- and to bring my own students up to New Hampshire for the first-in-the-nation primary so they could experience it for themselves.
I am so grateful for the leadership at USFSP (especially then-Dean Mark Durand and then-Chair Darryl Paulson and then-Chancellor Karen White) allowing me to develop this course the minute I arrived (Fall semester 2003 -- getting ready for Spring RTWH2004 course) -- trusting me to bring a group of students 1,300 miles north (nearly all of whom would be seeing snow for the very first time -- and not just seeing it, Canvassing in it! Doing vis in it!) And, of course, I am grateful for the students who apply and who make sacrifices in order to come along on this adventure, trusting me to facilitate a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience for them.
Each time I teach this course it is like developing it all over again --- as far as the presidential campaign internships, each cycle there are new candidates, new campaign staff, new office locations, new set of logistics (hotel, van, etc, etc) -- and for the seminar, there is a new body of literature generated since the last cycle and major updates are required.
Getting everything ready for RTWH2020 was a herculean task - as it always is - but we are so excited to go on the "Road to the White House"!
We are looking forward to having you join us, via this class blog. All of the students will be blogging individually as well (as they did beginning in 2004, when the concept was still relatively new). We also created a course instagram. And we may even do a class Tik Tok video! Stay tuned. :-))
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