On the Saturday afternoon before election day, students streamed into Sayles for mid-afternoon cheeseburgers and the chance to meet one of the most famous Senate candidates in Minnesota history. Al Franken was coming to encourage students swamped with eighth-week work to remember their responsibility to their country in the coming election.
The chairs and tables had been pushed aside, and students sat cross-legged on the floor or leaned over the railings on the upper floor. Student volunteers handed out campaign stickers and posters with slogans like "Change Minnesota Needs", and tried to recruit volunteers to get out the vote on Tuesday. The event started off on a rather unexpected note, with a pair of hip-hop performers rapping about themes of hope and change. Many students seemed confused, but eventually decided to go along with it. Some even danced to the impressive beatboxing rhythms.
Next, David Bly (state representative running for reelection) and Steve Sarvi (candidate for U.S. Congress) got up to speak, both emphasizing the same themes of change and the power of college students to affect the outcome of the election. There were also many other speakers who were not running for office, among them David Wellstone, the founder of Wellstone Action! and son of Paul Wellstone, the eminent senator and former Carleton political science professor.
He introduced Al Franken himself, who strode onto the floor to music blaring from the speakers and raucous cheers from the audience. Students who had been sitting on the floor stood up, and those on upper Sayles leaned further over the railings. Franken was a dynamic speaker, as one would expect, and his speech was a powerful plea to students to "work hard for the next three days". "Get up early and go to bed late" in order to make sure the election goes our way, he urged us, while also managing to weave in an amusing story about how Paul Wellstone used to run alongside his son in cross-country meets, shouting "You can do it! You can beat this guy!" "I can beat this guy," he concluded, referring to his opponent Norm Coleman, to wild cheering. After his speech, he went through the crowd shaking the hands of the reinvigorated student body, who hopefully heeded his advice and encouraged their friends and others to vote.
