tl20080211-01 "Krysten Appelbaum Senior Editor Instead of sleeping in or nursing a hangover this past weekend, some Towson students awoke bright and early to work for free. Senior Brian Ward and junior John Kyriacou are two stu-dents who spent the weekend canvassing neighborhoods, handing out literature and talking to potential voters for political campaigns in preparation for the Maryland pri-mary elections this Tuesday. Ward, a political science major, is volunteering for Democrat Donna Edwards� campaign for congress in Maryland�s 4th district, which includes Montgomery and Prince George�s counties. Kyriacou, a computer and information sciences major, is volunteering for the Barack Obama presidential campaign, and is the campus coordinator for Students for Barack Obama on campus. �Over the weekend I�ll probably wake up around 8 to 8:30, leave Towson around 9:30 and get to Rockville, where the campaign office is, around 10:30. Then it�ll be a whole day of going door-to-door,� Ward said. Both Ward and Kyriacou said that, when canvassing neighborhoods, they are visiting constituents targeted by their campaigns as frequent Democratic voters, asking if they have heard about their candidate and if they will sup-port their candidate. Though Ward and Kyriacou are dedicated to their cam-paigns, their reasons for getting involved are not typical. Kyriacou said he was not very interested in politics before he got involved with Obama and considers his volunteer work a hobby. �When I was in history class I learned about how in the campaign of John F. Kennedy, people were very active,� Kyriacou said. �When I first saw Barack Obama�s campaign I knew I wanted to be a part of it.� Ward, who does not live in the 4th District, said he got involved because of personal interest. �The reason why I got involved, there�s an incumbent Democrat in office currently, Albert Wynn. This is a pretty liberal district to begin with and Albert Wynn has been voting a lot with President Bush and has not been faithful to his constituency, and has been kind of corrupted by the system as many have seen it, over the years,� Ward said. He said Edwards ran in the last primary against Wynn and lost by 3 percent. Feb. 11, 2008 www.thetowerlight.com The Towerlight Published by and for the students of Towson and Baltimore -- twice-weekly Monday Now on TheTowerlight.com: View video Word on the Street and a photo slideshow of Mike Huckabee�s Maryland visit.... Candidates court college students Young voters expected to have major impact in Tuesday�s elections Patrick Smith/The Towerlight Republican presidential hopeful, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, signs autographs and shakes hands of students and supporters during the conclusion of his visit at the University of Maryland in College Park, Md., Saturday, Feb. 9. Web site names band for April concert Def Jam lists Roots for Tigerfest date Students get politically involved by volunteering for politicians Sharon Leff Editor in Chief The Campus Activities Board may sign Grammy Award-wining hip-hop band The Roots to play at Towson's annual spring fes-tival Tigerfest, according to the Def Jam Recordings Web site. Tigerfest is scheduled for April 26 and the band's Web site lists Towson University as a stop for that date on the band's tour Teri Hall, associate vice presi-dent for campus life, declined comment on any specific artists with whom CAB was in conver-sation. She said no contract has been signed for the event. �It's not something I can talk about until we have a contract in hand,"" Hall said. Lynn Bucci, the director of CAB, said the organization is still waiting on a couple items of busi-ness before they announce which bands will play. Some of The Roots' top songs on iTunes include ""The Seed (2.0),"" ""You Got Me"" and ""Break You Off."" Their most recent album, ""Game Theory,"" was released in 2006. More information can be found at http://www.defjam.com/site/ tour.php. Engaging through campaigning See RACE, page 15 Kiel McLaughlin News Editor All four major presidential candidates have swept through the region in the last week, stopping at local college campuses and nearby venues in preparation for the Feb. 12 Maryland primary elections. Candidates have taken a keen interest on young voters this year, a movement spear-headed by Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. The Illinois senator was the first candidate to hire a national director dedicated to gather-ing support among voters between the ages of 18 to 29. New York Senator Hillary Clinton later launched the �Students for Hillary� cam-paign. �It�s not so much specific issues that are mobilizing young voters - other then the oppo-sition to the war - it�s the message of change and hope,� associate professor of political science Donn Worgs said. �This has engaged younger people. It�s a sign of transformation of politics. There is an enthusiasm that young people have grabbed onto.� Worgs, who teaches American govern-ment and urban politics at Towson, said with Maryland being predominantly Democratic, he expects the battle over the delegates from the Old Line State to be �highly contentious.� See YOUTH, page 10 "
