RTWH 2016 Planning Trip, September 2015 -- Republican Candidate Campaign HQs

I stayed at the hotel that we booked for the course in Jan/Feb 2016 -- in part to make sure that it would meet our needs for the trip -- and also to learn my way around from the hotel to all of the campaign HQs and other destinations on our itinerary before everything is under a blanket of snow.

My plan was to meet with all of the campaigns' staff and to see all of the campaign HQs so that I could start making the arrangements for my students' internships.

While I let the students select their internship placements, we have always been fortunate in all of the classes I have taught that include campaign internships to have all campaigns covered.  I expect that once again we will have a diverse group of students and campaigns represented in RTWH 2016.

I stopped by every campaign HQ.  Some were just being set up, and others were not yet ready to open, so I met with some staffers in coffee shops instead.


As a Floridian teaching at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, my first stops were to Governor Jeb Bush's and Senator Marco Rubio's headquarters in Manchester.

I had productive meetings with the campaigns of Governor Jeb Bush, Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Lindsey Graham, Governor Chris Christie, Mr. Donald Trump, Ms. Carly Fiorina, Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Rand Paul, Dr. Ben Carson, Governor John Kasich, (and Governor Scott Walker).

I know how hectic things are at every stage of the campaign. Knowing how completely insane things will be come January, I wanted to meet with staff now to make all of the arrangements on behalf of my students. Each of the campaigns has a different feel, a different structure, different strategy. I know that students placed in each of the campaigns are going to have truly extraordinary experiences.

While I appreciated the conversations I had with all of the staffers with whom I met, my most memorable meeting may have been with Gov Chris Christie's staffer.  He's a fellow Rutgers alum who recounted an incident with my mentor Prof. Gordon Schochet during which Gordon came to his defense, quite forcefully, with the New Brunswick PD.  Gordon insisted that this staffer (who was then the leader the Young Republicans on campus) and his friends should have the right to protest -- that there needed to be a free speech zone at the presidential campaign event. The way he described the encounter, it sounded just like Gordon. This staffer assumed that Gordon disagreed with his politics, but knew that he could count on Gordon to defend his rights to express those beliefs. I hope that my students always feel the same way about me.

Here are a few pics of the HQs: