GW students have moved from Capitol Hill cubicles to the field to work on local and national campaigns during the 2000 campaign season, doing everything from office work to coordinating events for various political campaigns.

This has been a really great experience for me, said freshman Katharine Bloeser, who works on Ralph Nader’s presidential campaign. I am working for someone who can really make a difference and believes in what he is doing. I think that that is why it is such a good thing to be participating in.

Bloeser, a political science major, said she is one of three GW students who intern full-time on the Nader campaign.

I am engaged in numerous things for the campaign, everything from proofreading policy position papers and answering mail, she said. It is a job where I know that I am doing something useful, not just office work.

Both the GW College Republicans and GW College Democrats send members to help with area campaigns.

Jason Buchsbaum, a junior political science major, spent the weekend going door-to-door urging Virginia residents to re-elect Democratic Sen. Chuck Robb, who is running against former Virginia Gov. George Allen, a Republican, in one of the nation’s tightest races.

Buchsbaum distributed literature for the Democrats Friday in northern Virginia and went door-to-door Sunday educating voters on their choices for the election.

The GW community really fosters this type of political involvement. I worked in (Senator Patrick) Leahy’s (D-Vt.) office and then helped out on the campaigns.

The CRs have sent about 45 students every weekend to campaign for George Allen’s Virginia senate campaign and presidential candidate George W. Bush.

The campaigns do need the help and they love having college students, CR Chairman Bill Eldridge said.

While some GW students are volunteering on campaigns, others actually have their names on the ballot.

Jeff Butler, a GW graduate student in criminal justice, is running for a seat in the Wisconsin State Assembly.

GW offered a chance for me to see politics up-close and I did. From then on I have been hooked, he said. Being in the nation’s capital was the best way to become involved in politics. It really gave me, as a student, the first-hand experience that I have been able to take back home and try to make a difference.-Ilyssa Trussel contributed to this report.