Ryan Dailey

Democrat staff writer

Bright blue Bernie Sanders campaign signs, fresh out of the box, are stacked in piles along with bumper stickers, buttons and stickers in the living room.

About a week ago, volunteers with student organization ‘Noles Want Bernie, set up their operation in a house on the unassuming Dellview Drive, tucked just off North Monroe.

Students hustle in and out the door to a background of chatter from the makeshift “calling center” set up in the kitchen. There’s even a dog scampering between rooms.

Owned by longtime Democratic activist Tabitha Frazier, the house is on loan to the group free of charge to serve as its headquarters.

It’s been nearly a year since Neil C. Spencer, now a senior at Florida State, took to social media with the idea for a student support group for Sanders. Having met up with a group of early supporters last summer, he identified with Sanders’ policies and the excitement surrounding the campaign.

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“I’ve started groups on campus before, like Tallahassee Campus Alliance Club, which is a community service organization,” Spencer said, sitting at a desk in the sparsely-furnished living room.

“I knew how to work the FSU Campus, knew how to get space reservations and the rules for starting an organization. I thought, at the very least, I can do this for the campaign.”

The group quickly expanded beyond the Florida State campus, with events in Railroad Square drawing crowds of over 150 people. A number of students from TCC also began getting involved.

TCC student James Labelle just became involved in February, and said the group has been intensifying efforts as the race tightens between the Democratic candidates.

“We have dialers, which can reach people in whichever state we select or in our community. At this point there are still so many undecided voters, and that’s who we’re trying to reach out to,” Labelle said. “We’re trying to get people out to the polls.”

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Rolando Bosch is another TCC student volunteer with Noles Want Bernie. He is unique in that he will not be able to cast a vote this election. A native of Spain, Bosch has yet to receive his U.S. citizenship but feels passionately about American politics.

“I can’t vote, so I wanted to find a cool way to get involved. I thought ‘I might as well get other people to vote,” Bosch said.

Bosch has been living at the house for several days. He sleeps on an air mattress and brought a minimal desk and his desktop computer to the campaign headquarters. His central goal is to increase political conversation locally.

“The political spectrum in Spain goes from very far on the right to very far on the left, so it’s a very heated environment with a lot of activism. I feel like when you come to this country, there’s a stigma around talking about politics. I think the best way for us to make things work is to talk about these issues.”

Contact reporter Ryan Dailey at rdailey@tallahassee.com or call 599-2256.