Faces Around Campus: Tyler Smith, political activist and campaigner
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"Back then, I was putting labels on envelopes and collecting paper from the printer," Smith said.
This past summer, in keeping with his political inclinations, Smith spent the summer working as an intern for Constantine (D- Wash.)
When he was working on the campaign, Constantine was a county council member in King County (close to Seattle) and was running for the office of county executive.
Smith was involved both in Constantine's official office and in his campaign.
"My job within the office included dealing with constituent case work but also delving into areas of policy research, particularly the budget, which was a major issue in this year's campaign," Smith said.
"More interestingly probably, my work on the campaign involved organizing volunteers and the logistics of a grassroots field campaign."
"We had to put together a pretty large voter contact operation, getting in touch with undecided voters, reaching supporters, identifying them, making sure they vote," he said.
It involved several phone banks spread throughout the county. We had to recruit volunteers each night, make sure they were there."
Since his early start in politics at age five, Smith has become more seriously involved in politics.
When he was 14 years old, he spent the summer in South Dakota working for the campaign of then-Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.).
"The thing about Tom, and we called him Tom, is despite at the time being the Democratic Majority Leader, is that he goes by his first name with the people of South Dakota, he's incredibly down to earth if you meet him and he's extremely helpful and always looking out for his staff and treating them with respect," he said.
"I think a good way to measure politicians is by the way they treat their staff. . . I met Daschle briefly and I've spoken to him a few other times."
"I've known members of his family, other people who have worked on his staff for a long time. They have the highest regard for him," he said.
Smith also worked for Congresswoman Patty Murray (D- Wash.)'s reelection campaign in 2004. Murray is now the fourth-ranking member of the Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives.
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