Hitting the campaign trail: Iowa state freshman Logan Pals spent much of the fall volunteering for Mitt Romney's campaign in Iowa.

• Author: Pals, Logan
• Position: VOICES

On January 3, the Iowa caucuses kicked off the 2008 presidential nominating process. Growing up in Iowa, I've watched every four years as presidential candidates flood the state.

But this year was different: Not only was it the first time I was old enough to caucus, but I've also spent the last 11 months as a volunteer for Republican candidate Mitt Romney's campaign.

Every four years, Iowa (along with New Hampshire) takes center stage in the presidential nominating process. In most states, people rarely, if ever, see presidential candidates in person--and if they do, there's a good chance they paid hundreds, even thousands of dollars, to attend a fund-raising dinner to meet them. In Iowa, on the other hand, in the months leading up to the caucuses, candidates visit nearly every week, and the food is complimentary.

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I started working for Romney's campaign last February, after meeting him in October 2006 when he was campaigning on behalf of an Iowa State Representative.

DOOR-TO-DOOR

I was really impressed with his speech, but I didn't know a lot about him. I did some research, and the more I learned, the more reasons I found to support him for President.

My interest in politics began in 2000, when I was in 6th grade, and I saw Governor George W. Bush of Texas campaigning in Iowa.

That's when I started to feel strongly about the Republican Party and the values I believe it represents: keeping the government small and the military strong, living by religious values, and lowering taxes. That's why I'm doing all I can to make sure a Republican continues to lead the nation.

So this fall, I spent...