By Kristine Snodgrass, Staff Writer
Sen. Barack Obama has won in a landslide — among student voters at Montgomery High School.
A week before the presidential election, 70 percent of students voted for the Illinois Democrat in the school’s mock election. But that wasn’t without the help of a political student group “You Choose!”.
Before votes were cast Tuesday, the group, which one student characterized as “an organization to end political apathy in schools,” held a series of debates before the student body with members portraying the presidential and vice presidential candidates.
The debate was repeated twice to ensure the entire student population of 1,700 had the chance to see it live rather than watch a video recording. After students took their seats in the auditorium, they were treated to an event that was nearly as theatrical as the actual parties’ conventions.
For the candidates’ entrances, lights were dimmed, and a large screen on stage played campaign videos put together by You Choose!, interspersing sound bites by the real candidates and clips of the students portraying them.
One at a time, the candidates were introduced and made their way down the aisles of the auditorium, led by mock Secret Service agents, shaking the hands of admirers as rock music blasted. They made their way to the stage, which was decked with red, white and blue balloons and streamers, where they were met by students portraying the candidates’ spouses.
Jim Washburn, a social studies teacher and adviser to the group, said the students worked very hard and took the initiative in organizing the event.
”I didn’t tell them wear a suit tomorrow or go buy glasses like Gov. Palin,” he said.
Much of the hard work behind the event was by seniors Owen Likely and Katie Volz, who run the You Choose! group. They also acted as moderators for the debate.
Behind the scenes, about 70 students helped with the event, from performing to helping make campaign posters, Mr. Washburn said.
”We tried to get a lot of people involved,” Owen said.
The student candidates were provided the questions 10 minutes before the first debate. The questions were based on the real presidential debate questions, Katie said, with topics including the energy crisis, foreign policy, health care and education.
This meant the candidates, most of whom were already bogged down with their college applications, had to spend evenings preparing to answer questions on the spot and to debate the issues with their opponent. After one minute to answer each question, candidates were given 90 seconds of open debate.
Senior Amos Chiou, who represented Sen. John McCain, said he studied the debate videos and read their transcripts to practice Sen. McCain’s mannerisms as well as his stance on the issues.
If all else failed, he said, he planned to steer the question toward his own talking points, he said, much like he’d seen the real candidates do.
”I figured we could get away with it if they could,” he said.
Mr. Washburn said he was pleased with the performance of Amos, who had not previously revealed his dramatic side.
”To see him rise up like this and be the one speaking for the whole event is really impressive,” he said.
Senior Rami Abou-Sabe, who played Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden, said he played the attack dog for Sen. Obama, just as in real life.
And in doing so, he kept his audience in mind when asked about the energy crisis.
”Why doesn’t Sen. McCain care what happens in 20 years? I’ll tell you why — because Sen. McCain won’t be here in 20 years!” he said to raucous applause.
Senior Christian Aurup, who played Sen. Barack Obama, said he and Rami spent a lot of time studying the issues and watching YouTube to prepare.
”It’s about capturing the persona of the character,” he said.
The candidates showed the time they spent preparing with their adept imitation of the candidates. They often pulled quotes directly from the candidates’ speeches in the midst of their answers.
Christian took imitation as far as to take notes with his non-dominant hand to impersonate Sen. Obama.
But perhaps the most dead-on imitation was by junior Corina Cappabianca, who had nailed Sarah Palin’s accent well enough to rival Tina Fey.
”You know, it’s those darn big oil companies,” she said when asked about the energy crisis. But for Corina, a fan of Gov. Palin, imitation was the sincerest form of flattery.
”I think she brings a new light to the Republican Party,” she said.
The crowd was attentive for the debates, and Mr. Washburn said he could even see them weighing the issues in their minds as the candidates spoke.
”I was glad they were really respectful,” Katie said. “Everybody worked hard.”

