UD students sat in on GOP party platform debates, conversed with Colin Powell, did sound checks for Peter Jennings and Bernard Shaw, prayed with Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, participated in almost every activity at the Republican national convention in Philadelphia and then talked about their experiences on public TV.

It was all part of a course, "The Road to the Presidency," jointly sponsored by the communication and political science departments. Focusing on both the politics of the national election process and the media's role in that process, the interdisciplinary course was taught by Joseph Pika, professor of political science and international relations, who has been studying presidential campaigns for 20 years, and Ralph Begleiter, UD Distinguished Journalist-in-Residence, who came to the University last year after a 20-year career as a political correspondent for CNN.

It was Begleiter who came up with the idea of the three-semester course, which gives students the opportunity to work side-by-side with politicians and media experts as the presidential campaigns unfolded. It offers hands-on links between the history of American politics and its current practice.

Last spring, students worked at local media and campaign headquarters as the returns from Super Tuesday primaries came in.

"This course is everything I wanted it to be," Begleiter says. "When students take science, they can go into the lab and experience what they are learning. But, for political science students, it's harder to do that," he says.

Begleiter and Pika agreed that the course came as close to a laboratory in politics as a lab in chemistry--right down to students doing what politicians have to do--be interviewed by the media.

"I thought it was a fantastic experience, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," says Ryan Gannon, CHEP 2001, a senior majoring in family studies, who held internships with the platform and official proceedings committees. He arrived in Philadelphia the Thursday before the GOP convention began and sat in on most of the party platform discussions. He says he remembers best the heated debate on abortion and how articulate speakers on both sides of the issue were. He also says he was impressed with how careful the 100 members of the committee were about every aspect of the document.

"They checked it word for word, for everything from content to grammar. It's amazing how much they nit-picked," Gannon says.

Later, after the platform committee dissolved, Gannon served as a VIP escort. He rode with Colin Powell, Elizabeth and Robert Dole, John McCain and others from the airport to the convention and walked them to their seats or to waiting rooms if they were speakers.

He says the public doesn't understand how massive an undertaking a convention is. "People work 24-7. Something was always going wrong," he says, "It was like organized chaos."

What Gannon didn't expect and what unnerved him the most was when protestors blocked the car he was riding in. But, despite a few harrowing moments, he says he'd take the course again in a minute.

Gerry Peden, a social studies graduate student and a civics teacher at Cape Henlopen (Del.) High School, had a similar experience. He also served on the platform and official proceedings committees, and he says he was impressed by the eloquence of the pro- and anti-abortion speakers.

Peden watched some of the convention from the convention chair's skybox, which hosted a number of dignitaries, including some Democrats. He had a half-hour conversation with former presidential candidate and arch conservative Gary Bauer, then chatted with Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign adviser, James Carville, who was in the skybox with his wife, GOP adviser Mary Matalin.

Peden says that the whole thing was a "tremendous experience."

"What it is is a show more than anything else--it's a pep rally," Lisa Edler, a Master of Liberal Arts (MALS) degree student, says. Edler, who interned with the official proceedings committee, says she volunteered for anything she could do. "At first, I did typing and data entry, but eventually, I worked around people like Colin Powell, Elizabeth Dole, John McCain and, most interesting of all, Cardinal Bevilacqua."

Edler met Cardinal Bevilaqua while he was waiting to go to the platform. She asked him for a blessing and they prayed together. His graciousness is something she says she will never forget.

Edler says she would like to tell UD students to take advantage of unique courses like this when they become available. "This course is one of the opportunities you have at UD that you can't get anyplace else, not even if you attend New York University," says the former New Yorker.

Gregory Kaufmann, a chemistry and English literature senior, had a different experience. He worked for ABC News and saw the convention mostly from the media's perspective. He pretended to be Peter Jennings when the crew was testing the sound equipment, and then let Jennings interview him for other tests. He says he had never experienced anything as fast-paced.

Several of the students did internships with Begleiter's alma mater, CNN. Stephanie Denis, AS 2003, a junior journalism major, was an anchor booth runner. "I got to see how a convention really works. There were more media representatives than delegates. When you're on the inside, you're completely immersed in the convention. We worked 12 hours a day," she says.

She did get outside the convention once when she went with a camera crew to cover the Unity 2000 protest march in center city Philadelphia.

Craig Beebe, AS 2002, a senior political science major, who couldn't say enough about his convention experience, the course or Pika and Begleiter-- echoes everyone's thoughts. "It was one of the most exciting things I've ever been to. The course is really good, and Pika and Begleiter have excellent insights into politics and the media."

The final consensus?

It was an eye-opening, once-in-a-lifetime experience from which everyone, including Pika and Begleiter, benefited.

The two professors agree that if the 2004 conventions are on the East Coast, they intend to offer the course again.