While intraparty tensions ran high among the Dems when the primary was involved, they put aside their differences after hours, when debates finished and television pundits mouthed superficial insight and insubstantial chatter into the night. As Kerry fans and Deaniacs came together to share a pitcher of beer, cameras preserved the memories of fun times on the campaign trail.

Lesser, who worked for Dean’s campaign in New Hampshire but switched to Kerry in South Carolina, found his Charleston experience an eye-opening one.

“[We] really became immersed in the culture of the campaign. You learned what the concerns and needs of people in that area were,” he said. “It was a tremendous chance to see the differences in American political culture but also see the similarities. Everyone wanted a better economy, everyone wants government to be effective.”

A visit to a poor African American neighborhood in Charleston brought out strong emotions in Kerry volunteer Jonathan D. Einkauf ’06. Einkauf, who said his family “just scraped by” at one point in their lives, said he was frustrated that other campaigns were ignoring poorer communities.

“I feel that no one else treats [these people] with respect and I feel that we are,” he said while walking through the area, on the outskirts of metropolitan Charleston.

SOFT MONEY

The Dems were not alone in their off-campus junkets. The Harvard Republican Club (HRC) also sponsored a campaign trip to Rhode Island in December. With a heated primary race affecting the party, however, the Democrats were much more active in campaigning this year.

This disparity actually led to conflict between the HRC and the Institute of Politics (IOP).

“It was frustrating to hear the IOP talk about parity during a semester in which its resources were focused so exclusively on the Democratic primary,” HRC President Mark T. Silvestri ’05 said in February.

Silvestri and other club members said they were concerned that while the Dems had received $2,500 from the IOP for the Charleston trip, the HRC had received hardly any IOP funds for their own campaign activities.

The IOP defended the disparities in funding as a “function of the campaign cycle,” according to Ilan T. Graff ’05, president of the IOP Student Affairs Committee.

The HRC had previously filed a request for an IOP grant to fund its 115th anniversary dinner last fall at the Faculty Club. The original application asked for $1,500, but the IOP only provided $500 to the club. Per IOP regulations, the HRC was then barred from applying for a second grant for the remainder of the year.

Despite his frustrations, Silvestri said in January he was hopeful that the IOP would provide funds to bankroll later trips taken by the HRC, perhaps on the same scale as the Dems’ South Carolina sojourn.

DON’T STOP THINKING ABOUT TOMORROW

At the close of the primary season, the Dems shifted gears, mobilizing behind the primary victor and apparent Democratic presidential contender Kerry.