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    Here comes the bus

August 30, 2007

C-SPAN bus coming to St. Peter

Campaign bus at Gustavus next week

By Robb Murray

ST PETER — They’re not quite sure why it’s coming, but the folks at Gustavus Adolphus College are ready to welcome the C-SPAN Campaign 2008 Bus to campus next week.

Classes start Tuesday, and the 45-foot, mobile multi-media demonstration center and TV production unit will roll onto campus Wednesday.

From 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., anyone who wants to can take a tour of the bus. Between now and Election Day, it will make stops at major political events. Its aim is to inform voters and raise campaign awareness, something of which Gustavus already has a healthy supply, one college official said.

“The College Democrats and College Republicans I think are becoming a little more visible on campus than they were earlier in the decade (each has about 40 members),” said Matt Thomas, Gustavus’ media relations director. “People are getting involved in politics at a much younger age.”

The bus will be located on the street adjacent to the C. Charles Jackson Campus Center between the three flags and Lund Center.

After leaving Gustavus, it reportedly will make stops at schools in Janesville and Waseca. This tour of America is called the “Road to the White House” tour.

The bus program was launched in 1993, but it was called the School Bus and visited elementary schools and teachers. In January it was re-launched as the Campaign 2008 Bus.

It measures 45 feet long, 9 feet wide and 13 feet tall. It weighs 22 tons and has visited all presidential libraries and all 50 states.

A C-SPAN crew of two marketing representatives and a motor coach operator usually accompany the bus on visits.

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