STUDENTS

Can a PAE Help Get a Candidate Elected?

ONE OF THE PLUSES of writing a Policy Analysis Exercise (or PAE, as they’re known around the school), as opposed to a straightforward thesis, has always been that it gives students the chance to work with a real-life client on an issue that might end up having a real-life impact on public policy.

The pluses multiply when the client is involved in a presidential campaign during a hot election, as a handful of students from this year’s graduating class found out.

For starters, there’s a chance that a recommendation in a PAE could have an impact on a candidate’s (or future president’s) thinking.

Ben Montanez MPP 2004 and Steven Llanes MPP 2004 looked at increasing Hispanic participation in the Republican Party for their client, the Republican National Committee (RNC). Today, nearly 38 million Hispanic citizens live in the United States — the largest minority group in the country.

“President Bush had made strides in this area. In 2000, he received 35 percent of the Hispanic vote, compared with Bob Dole’s 21 percent in 1996,” Montanez said. “But we wanted to bring it to the next level.”

“Seventy percent of Hispanics live in the five super states,” said Llanes, referring to the states with the most electoral votes in presidential elections and the most delegates to the national conventions. “This speaks to the fact that it’s important that Hispanics play an important role in the U.S. election.”

In order to do this, they recommend in their PAE, the RNC must attract Hispanics into the party by making them feel “valued” and giving them key leadership roles, rather than just urging them to get out and vote.

Meredith Chaiken MPP 2004 came up with a similar conclusion about veterans for her client, the chair of veteran outreach for John Kerry’s campaign. During the summer between her first and second years at the Kennedy School, she worked as deputy campaign chair in New Hampshire for the campaign. Focusing on veterans issues, she learned that most people had assumptions about vets — including her client, a Vietnam vet.

“People assume vets aren’t politically engaged, but as my PAE shows, that’s not true,” Chaiken said. They are 10 percentage points more likely to vote than nonveterans, she found, making them a group that could have a big impact on the 2004 presidential race, especially in competitive states like Florida, Minnesota, and New Hampshire.

In her PAE, she urges the Kerry campaign to focus not just on voter registration, but also on getting more vets to vote for Kerry, not his opponent. She writes that the campaign should also strategically train vets as activists in key states and work with them to speak out in public.

For some students, working on a PAE for a campaign has the added bonus of making them feel like they’re a part of history in the making. Eric Rosenbach MPP 2004 and Blake Mobley MPP 2004 realized this when they worked on a PAE
for Rand Beers that looks at how Kerry should handle postconflict reconstruction. Beers, national security advisor for Kerry’s campaign, taught a class at the Kennedy School in the spring with former Bush advisor Richard Clarke, who was all over the media.

“This PAE was so timely,” says Mobley. “We got lucky.”

Rosenbach remembers one day in particular that stood out. “Blake and I were sitting in Rand’s office, watching Dick testify before the 9/11 Commission while Rand was checking over our final draft,” he said. “His testimony was pretty moving because he (Dick) apologized to the families of the victims of 9/11. Dick also specifically mentioned his close friendship with Rand. So imagine: Blake and I looking at each other, wide-eyed, as we watched Dick talk about Rand while he was reading our stuff!” — LH