Just a few weeks ago, College of Communication and College of Arts and Sciences graduate Dave Bresler finished the last final of his college career.
He began his first foray into National Politics 101 the next morning.
Less than 24 hours after finishing his coursework at Boston University on Dec. 20, Bresler boarded a plane headed to Iowa, which has become the country’s political epicenter – at least for the next few days. Bresler put his political science degree to work immediately, joining the John Kerry for President campaign, helping organize Iowan caucus-goers and talking about the Massachusetts senator’s issues.
“It was kind of crazy,” Bresler said, explaining his decision to work for Kerry’s campaign – one he made in less than three days. “I wasn’t trying to look for a job at that point, and here was an opportunity – not in Boston where I wanted to stay, but an amazing opportunity, nonetheless.”
Bresler bought a plane ticket after checking with his parents. The recent graduate said even he could not believe his quick change from student to political operative.
“I didn’t have my final grades for three of my classes, and I was sitting here making phone calls for John Kerry in Des Moines,” Bresler said in a phone interview last week, as other phones in Kerry’s office rang in the background.
As the volunteer coordinator for four of Iowa’s western counties, Bresler said he has spent lots of time talking to voters, informing them of their caucus locations and explaining Kerry’s platform. Iowans are political experts, he said, especially since their state becomes a political hotbed once every four years.
“Iowans know their politics,” Bresler said. “You get them on the phone, and if you don’t know your stuff, you’re not going to do too well. I had plenty of rough experiences my first few days.”
The political atmosphere in Iowa vastly differs from the rest of the country because it is one of the only states to hold caucuses, Bresler said. Most other states hold primaries, while some states have nothing at all.
While primaries include voting booths and curtains to ensure privacy as citizens come and go throughout the day, caucuses mandate that participants make public declarations of support for their candidates. All the action happens at the same time – Monday at 6:30 p.m. CST.
And depending on how many delegates each individual precinct has, the candidate needs support from a certain percentage of people throughout each room. If one candidate does not have enough support, the voters must decide which of the better-faring candidates they want to support.
“A lot of what happens is you’re looking for second place,” Bresler explained. “You’re looking to see if [people who support candidates that do not receive enough support] support John Kerry as their second choice after they’re not viable – that’s huge.”
But most of what Bresler’s been doing includes explaining to Iowans why Kerry should be their first choice. His supervisor, Iowa Western Regional Director Dave Barnhart, said Bresler has been a “huge asset” since he arrived in Iowa.
“You have to be somewhat crazy,” Barnhart said of Bresler’s decision to drop everything and rush over to Iowa. “You come in here, you don’t know a soul, you don’t know where you’re going to live and we work 16 to 18 hours a day, seven days a week. It takes a lot of dedication, it takes a committed individual … and that’s the kind of guy Dave Bresler is.”
But the crazy push in Iowa will end in five days, and Bresler said he’s ready to go wherever the campaign asks him to go.
“I really think we’re going to do well and then it’s going to be another split second decision like it was this first time,” Bresler said. “We’re going to see how we do on the 19th – hopefully, we do really well. We make a decision overnight, and by noon on the 20th, I should know what my options are.”
Bresler said he hopes to work in New Hampshire and then stay with the campaign. He’s unsure where the campaign will need him next, though one of the next early primary states is likely: Arizona, South Carolina, Nevada, Oklahoma or Minnesota, to name a few.
“Hopefully not Minnesota,” Bresler joked, saying the frigid weather in Iowa is a force to contend with and he does not want to head further north. However, he added, “It’s wherever they need me.”
Bresler said he does not see himself facing the Iowa challenge again. Work usually starts around 9 a.m. and runs until 1 a.m. But the day doesn’t usually end there for Bresler and the rest of the Kerry campaign staff.
“You go home and you’re living with the people you work with, and you talk politics for an hour or two, you go to sleep for like four or five hours, you wake up and do the whole thing again,” Bresler said. “You can’t do this for very long.”
At BU, Bresler worked as the Student Union vice president of Academic Affairs and became executive vice president last semester. Union President Carl Woog said Bresler is a perfect fit for the Kerry campaign.
“Dave has been the engine of the Student Union the last two years,” Woog said, adding that he “wouldn’t want anyone but Dave on the front lines.”
Woog described Bresler as a “visionary,” saying he is very “observant of other people” and “very detailed” – two qualities that made him a perfect candidate to help Kerry.
Mike Moffo, a former Union president who works for the Kerry campaign and first contacted Bresler about the Iowa job, described the coincidence of Bresler’s graduation and the open position at the campaign as “perfect timing.”
“Up here, we’re always looking for somebody,” Moffo said. “He knows about organizing. He knows about doing the hard work behind the scenes and making the organization work, and that’s what he was successful in doing at BU and that’s exactly what we need him to do here.”
For a recent graduate, Bresler seems to have everything figured out. He knows exactly what he wants to be doing in four more years.
“Hopefully, we’ll be running John Kerry’s re-election campaign,” he laughed. “Working in the White House at 23 wouldn’t be so bad.”