The Brown & White

Pennsylvania's Democratic primary may be two months away, but plans are underway to get Lehigh University students and Bethlehem community members active in recruiting votes for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

A crowd of about 20 students, local residents and organizers from the Obama campaign met Monday night in the basement of Linderman Library, brainstorming and planning events leading up to the April 22 Pennsylvania primary.

The meeting was a small fraction of the resources and people pouring into Pennsylvania for the primary, said Bar Johnston, a leading organizer for the Obama campaign in the 15th Congressional District, which includes Bethlehem. As of two weeks ago, they had five campaign staff in Pennsylvania, but now they have 15.

The amount of support in the Lehigh Valley has been strong, Johnston said.

"A week and a half ago," Johnston said, "the Lehigh Valley had as many volunteers active as they had in Philadelphia."

Lehigh students have also shown strong support for Obama, she said, and have been planning several large events in the coming months to raise support both within the university and its surrounding area.

Vice president of College Democrats, Celinda Stanton, '11, said the organization has been working on plans to hand out flyers, signs and bumper stickers to students.

Brent Herbert, '08, from Alpha Tao Omega fraternity, encouraged Greek members and student athletes to volunteer their time and help register people to vote.

"There's a lot of Greeks that could get involved," Herbert said during the meeting. "There are a lot of politically involved people with a lot of free time, so we need to get out and motivate them."

Ideas of how to recruit the Hispanic, black and student vote in the Lehigh Valley were offered in quick succession by the group in a roundtable discussion. Suggestions included bringing in bands, planning rallies at local bars and restaurants and creating a grass roots movement to get votes in April.

Roxana Anniuk of Klecknersville said one of the best ideas of the night was to host a gospel festival in support of Obama in the Lehigh Valley. Anniuk, a registered independent, said she was inspired by Obama's messages of hope and unity.

"I changed my party to democrat so I could vote in the primary and get Barack [Obama] elected," she said.

Johnston said there is a chance Obama could come to the Lehigh Valley once, if not two or three times, as the primary nears. Obama or his wife, Michelle, could even speak at Lehigh. But Johnston said that all depends on how many students show interest in listening to them.

"It's a matter of what Lehigh students can do," Johnston said. "Lehigh students, if they show up and there is a critical mass of people that are supporting Barack Obama, then the chance of him coming to Lehigh greatly increases."

The best way to show the Obama campaign that interest is high, Johnston said, would be to organize meetings and produce a large number of student volunteers.

"If you can produce people and people are active," she said, "of course he's going to come and he's going to want to see that. He's going to want to be a part of that."

An Obama meeting for a "day of action" will be held Saturday at Bethlehem Brew Works at 10:30 a.m., Johnston said.