USF Road to the White House 2024 - Lana Sleiman

 Day 10: last day. We made it. Ten long days in South Carolina bouncing between Columbia, Aiken, Irmo, Lexington and Charleston. Thank you to our guest speakers who took time out of their busy schedules to come talk to twenty-four eager students. Thank you to the South Carolina Democratic Party (SCDP) for hosting us Democratic interns. Your kindness, generosity, and (southern) hospitality is very appreciated and recognized. Thank you to Randi Doan and Richie Marini for being our incredible supervisors. You were there for any questions we had, kept us going, and continued celebrating what Road to the Whitehouse is all about. Last but most certainly not least, thank you to Dr. Judithanne Scourfield McLauchlan. This prestigious, once-in-a-lifetime program would not be possible without you. Thank you for letting me about a part of it and inviting me to be a guest speaker on WUSF with you ( WUSF link ). I will take everything I have learned with me to my post-graduate studies and career...

Day 9 y'all and it is ELECTION DAY! Polls are open till 7:00 pm in all forty-six counties of South Carolina and you can bet that people are making their voices heard. We started our day back at Lizard's Thicket to see Ainsley Earhardt from Fox and Friends promote the primary elections in the traditional retail politics-sense. She interviewed the tables around us. Alexa, Alexis, and I got to have a delightful conversation with the two women at the table next to us who are a part of the Republican Party and have been working in the political realm throughout their careers. I mainly talked with the younger woman (who I will not disclose their name out of respect their privacy) who has experience working in Tampa, Florida on tax reform and now on tobacco reform. Her specialty is in issue-based politics, so focusing on policy, and right now she is lobbying to protect the youth of South Carolina from the harmful toxins of e-cigarettes. What are the chances that someone who has spent ...

 Today we went to Charleston, South Carolina. It is about a two hour drive from where we are staying in Lexington. We went to go see the authors of our textbook First in the South: Why South Carolina's Presidential Primary Matters by Professors Gibbs Knotts and Jordan Ragusa at the College of Charleston where they both currently work.  They discussed the data and analysis that went into creating their book ad the reasoning for why South Carolina is the first state in the sequential primary elections. We have heard over the course of the week that South Carolina picks the presidential nominees. They have only been wrong twice within recent history. According to the research Professors Knotts and Ragusa presented, South Carolina is representative of its Republican constituents but not its Democratic constituents. I found this interesting because it slightly diminishes their argument against South Carolina's place as first in the nation in the sequential nomination process. Yet w...

 We started the morning off with our typical morning seminar and breakfast then headed to the State House! I have been to the Florida Capitol several times but I was so excited to visit South Carolina's. It was absolutely beautiful. The main colors of the rooms, walls, and ceilings were teal and a dark rose. The colors complemented each other so well. The furniture was of wood and navy leather. There was a skylight on the second floor that splits into the Senate Chamber and House of Representatives. The history behind the building was fascinating. It was originally built by slaves, construction was halted, and then it was completed in the early 1900s. Representative Micah Caskey (R) of Lexington County and Representative Mike Neese (R) of Lancaster County spoke to us while we visited the House of Representatives. They were laid-back, answered all of our questions, and had some interesting perspectives to provide during their time as Representatives. For example, for Representative ...

 Day 6. Wow. We have made it far. 4 days left. It feels like we have been in South Carolina for an eternity. I do not mean that in a bad way at all! I have loved everything that we have done and I have soaked up all the information that I can. We have been working hard day to night. School assignments in the hotel after nightly seminars and activities. It has been a whirlwind. There is still a lot to go. Today was a mix of Republican and Democratic activities. We started the day by going to the South Carolina Republican Party Headquarters (SCRP). We met with the Executive Director, Hope Walker Rossi, and Abby, Communications Head, they were both so kind and answered all of our questions. They shared their backgrounds in politics and talked about how their office is unaffiliated with candidates. They do not go to any candidate events (same with the South Carolina Democratic Party-SCDP) They discussed how candidates how to go through their office to get on the ballot. They discussed ...

 For morning seminar, as we begin each morning, Dr. Scott Huffmon came and spoke with us from the Winthrop University, Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research,  about polling and sampling. I have taken social science statistics and political empirical analysis which involved sampling data, but Dr. Huffmon went in depth and gave us examples and taught us about priming, framing, word choice, and mixed-mode polling. It was really interesting and it taught me that people change their minds quite quickly depending how you word the question.  Then we went to the Governor's Mansion! It was absolutely beautiful from the plants outside, to the little trinkets inside from the recovered silver battleship pieces turned into kitchen pieces, the little sunroom/garden, the old three dollar bill, and most importantly, the Governor's dog Mack. He was adorable and followed us around the whole tour. The staff even had to put him away in a different room, and he somehow broke out to jo...

We started today off by having AP reporter Meg Kinnard come speak to us over breakfast. She had so much to share with us including her start in journalism, specifically political journalism, her background (college and upbringing), and what it takes to be a national politics reporter. She also answered all of our questions as well. I have noticed on this trip that everyone has been so patient to answer all of our questions, and I truly appreciate that as we are such a large group of students. Mrs. Kinnard taught us that when following a particular political figure, it is also important to maintain a relationship with them off the record which I found so interesting.  We had lunch at Lizard's Thicket which is apparently a South Carolina staple. Dr. JSM had all of us go in and sit to eat to get the true southern experience. It was definitely southern food that's for sure but it was fun to get to try a locally important spot for the culture.  After Mrs. Kinnard spoke with us, we ...