Election Day, Through the Eyes of a Candidate

Rep. Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, speaks with his campaign managers Ben Greene and Matthew Golden during breakfast on Election Day at Stan's Restaurant in downtown Mount Pleasant.

AS PUBLISHED IN CENTRAL MICHIGAN LIFE

When state Rep. Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, woke up Tuesday on the day of his re-election, he wasn't nervous. He was hungry, not only for breakfast, but for a second term in office. He met at Stan’s Restaurant, 220 E. Broadway St., with his campaign strategist, Matthew Golden, and his campaign manager, Grand Rapids senior Ben Greene.

“If you’re nervous on Election Day, that means you didn’t do your homework,” Mr. Cotter said. “It’s like trying to finish a book report the day it’s due.”

Mr. Cotter, 35, was projected by many people to defeat Adam Lawrence, the Democratic challenger for the 99^th District.

The first priority of the day was breakfast – two eggs, over-easy, with buttered toast and a coffee with no milk and sugar. With a few other patrons eating and talking in the restaurant, Mr. Cotter and his staffers spoke about the growing lines at local precincts and news about long lines for voting in Detroit and Miami.

He shook hands with other patrons in the restaurant. They wished Mr. Cotter luck in the election.“I’m sure you’ll win,” a man said.

The Cotter campaign took what could be described as a laid-back approach to his re-election campaign. Mr. Greene said they “knocked on a lot of doors” but they kept themselves from an “in-your-face” approach. Mr. Cotter said his previous term brought him recognition in the 99th District, which has traditionally been heavily Republican.

Mr. Greene began at CMU as a broadcasting major. His interest in politics shifted his major to political science, and he soon became involved in local campaigns. He developed the campaign plan with Mr. Cotter, a CMU alum.

“It’s tough to get away from the ‘bug,’ ” Mr. Greene said. “That’s what I call it.”

Regardless of projections, predictions and popularity, Mr. Cotter knew thorough campaign work had to be done.“I think the hardest part of our job is prioritizing,” Mr. Cotter said, about executing the campaign plan.

Mr. Golden usually works in Lansing but he took vacation time to stay in Mount Pleasant with Mr. Cotter.

“I’m just here because I’m a nerd,” Mr. Golden said. “I love this stuff.”

After breakfast, Mr. Golden drove behind Mr. Cotter to the Union Township office to vote. He waited in line for 12 minutes to complete and cast his ballot.

Mr. Cotter met at his campaign headquarters in an office space, 113 W. Broadway St., where his campaign signs were secured to the large window-front. In a back room, he spoke with Mr. Golden and Mr. Greene about Election Day events and made plans for preparing his victory party at Hunter’s Ale House, 4855 E. Blue Grass Road.

Throughout his first term, Mr. Cotter said he voted 53 times against his own party on various issues. He posted the results of each vote on Facebook, along with explanations for why he voted the way he did. Transparency and accountability for his official conduct was as much of a priority, he said, as meeting with constituents. During the campaign, he made it a point to avoid negative campaigning against Mr. Lawrence.From the headquarters, Mr. Cotter left to sit in on meetings regarding his official work as representative. Then he prepared for the evening, and had dinner with his family.

Mr. Cotter drove to Midland for the Midland County GOP Victory Party at the H Hotel, 111 W. Main St., a three-star hotel with a large conference room where Dave Camp held his victory party.

Rep. Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, speaks at the Midland County GOP Victory
Party at the H Hotel in Midland, Mich. on Election Day.

Mr. Cotter met with supporters, took an interview with a local TV news station and spoke briefly about his hope for Republican victories in the local and national elections. After spending about a half-hour there, he headed back to Mount Pleasant for his party at Hunter’s Ale House. There, he greeted his family and friends, spoke to the gathering and then met with supporters as Mr. Golden continually updated the results numbers of his election, along with the presidential race and other local elections on a 200-inch screen.

Mr. Cotter’s supporters, expecting a victory, were more relaxed than in 2010, when he was elected to the House for the first time.

He was ahead of Mr. Lawrence by about 2,700 votes with just a few precincts left to report. Mr. Golden calculated the votes and made sure that the remaining number of votes were negligible in determining the winner. When Mr. Golden saw that the math guaranteed a majority of votes, he gave Mr. Cotter the thumbs-up.

Mr. Cotter’s wife, Jennifer, and his father, Bob, congratulated him after he declared victory at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.

He left Hunter’s Ale House at about 2 a.m. and stayed up until 3:30 a.m. with his laptop, keeping tabs on state and national elections.

Mr. Cotter’s hunger for re-election was satisfied. Mr. Cotter said his dad’s congratulations meant a lot to him.

“He congratulated me and told me to keep up the good work, and he was especially proud of the way we ran this race,” Mr. Cotter said. “He’s always been against negative campaigning, and said he was proud of the way things were run. That makes me feel really good.”

Jennifer Cotter, wife of Rep. Kevin Cotter, watches live election results as Cotter's campaign managers collect voting results at Hunter's Ale House in Mount Pleasant, Mich. on Election Day.

Rep. Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, right, waits in line to vote on Election Day.

Rep. Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, talks with a campaign manager at the H Hotel in Midland, Mich. on Election Day.

Rep. Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, speaks in an interview with WNEM 5 News at the H Hotel in Midland, Mich. on Election Day.

Reliving My Hockey Years, Through a Long Lens

Dan Farley, coach of the Ontonagon Midget BB ice hockey team, talks with players during intermission of a game at the state tournament in Negaunee, Mich. on Feb. 28, 2013. "You guys need to step up," Farley said. "Be leaders out there."

Ontonagon right wing Travis Houtari is pulled away from the Fraser Titans goalie on March 1, 2013 during a state tournament game in Negaunee, Mich.

When I went home for spring break, I stopped in Negaunee, Mich. in Michigan's Upper Peninsula for a state hockey tournament that my hometown's team played in. Five years ago, it was the arena where I played my last hockey game in 2008, on the same team.

I rented a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 for break. Hockey games are a great way to use the lens. I was guaranteed three games to shoot and I didn't have to worry about credentials or limited photographers' space. Free reign, for a photographer, is hog heaven.

I drove from Mount Pleasant and arrived in Negaunee in time for Ontonagon's first game. After staring out my windshield all day, it was great to see friends. And hockey. I stayed in nearby Marquette with a friend, and then spent a night at a hotel with my grandfather, Stan, and my sister, Audrey.

Following hockey through a long lens, however, is difficult. Try following a hockey game with one eye through binoculars. You get the picture. The work of shooting hockey is not following the game, it's framing the game in the image, and anticipating where the game is going on the ice. I played hockey for 12 years, but my knowledge of the game did not make anticipating with a camera any easier. It's much easier to anticipate as a player than photographer.

Still, I hoped to see them win.

Westland celebrates a goal against Ontonagon on March 1, 2013 during the state hockey tournament in Negaunee, Mich.

Last year, Ontonagon competed for a state championship in Alpena, Mich. The team, more or less consisting of the same players as the year before, had another chance to win. Unfortunately for them, they lost. Their story ended the same as mine: Their last game together as a team was in Negaunee.

Ontonagon defenseman Jeff Pestka before a face-off against Westland on March 1, 2013 in Negaunee, Mich. during a state tournament game.

Fans watch Ontonagon play Blue Water Sting in their first game of the state tournament in Negaunee, Mich. on Feb. 28, 2013.

Dylan Morris of Ontonagon fends off a Westland player during a state tournament game in Negaunee, Mich. on March 1, 2013.

Dylan Morris, left, and Drew Pollard sit dejected after losing a state tournament game 8-2 against Westland in Negaunee, Mich. The loss eliminated Ontonagon from the tournament, making it the last-ever game together as a team.

Homecoming festivities integrate Twitter, Instagram to appeal to tech-savvy students

Central Michigan University sophomore Mackenzie Guest takes a photo of her Larzelere Hall teammates doing a pose from the photo checklist during the Gold Rush scavenger hunt on Tuesday evening. The photos were sent via Instagram for scoring.

Central Michigan University sophomore Mackenzie Guest, left, and freshman Natalie Scalabrino, right, anxiously
browse the list of things to photograph Oct. 16 during the 60-minute Gold Rush event. Photos were sent via
Instagram for scoring by the event coordinators.

As much as other industries that have looked to try the internet and its immediacy for delivering information, so has the operating of homecoming activities and events.

At Central Michigan University, the shift towards internet-based activity has not only become prevalent, but also essential to appeal to a generation of students affixed to absorbing information held online.

As C.M.U.'s homecoming week got underway this week, numerous events have been exacerbated by the services of instant information communications. During these events, like the well-known C.M.U. gold medallion hunt, a need has developed among competitors to communicate on an immediate basis to try and gain an edge over opponents.

Gold Rush event coordinator Will Damian, left, checks for incoming Instagram photos from the Gold Rush scavenger
hunt with Megan Ellinger, center, and Kelly Wright.

Meredith Vedder, center, waits for the final photo of the hour-long competition with her teammates.

The internet has also become a forum with which events have been run. In the first-ever 'Gold Rush' event at C.M.U., the structure of the game was to work on a checklist that gave clues about where teams had to go to take certain photos, which were sent via Instagram, the photo-sharing social media platform.

"I had a lot of people come up to me and say that this was one of the best homecoming events they had ever gone to," said Will Damian, a C.M.U. senior and event coordinator for Gold Rush. "It just warmed my heart. I'm really happy with it and I think a lot of other people are, too."

Integrating social media and the internet has been an ongoing effort by C.M.U. to make events appealing to students. Damon Brown, assistant director for the Office of Student Life, said the medallion hunt has been integrated with the internet for several years. The hunt is a clue-fed scavenger hunt for a medallion that results in points for the C.M.U. homecoming Maroon Cup. The goal of the homecoming activities is to connect students with each other and to the university.

"It's creative. We're trying to find new ways of doing things," Mr. Brown said. "Social media – everyone's using it – so it's a great way to connect and allow them to be a part of the homecoming event in an avenue that they're used to using."

It is a national movement towards disseminating homecoming on the web. The University of Delaware notified its students and alumni that they can use a "#UDHC" hashtag on Twitter for sharing their experiences during homecoming week. The Gold Rush event is an example of a rejuvenated attempt at connecting to a college generation that predominantly uses social media more so than others. 

"Will just kind-of came up with a good idea with Instagram and with locations and being able to use that as a means of having people spread out and not still being able to track everything that they were sending in," said Julia Moerman, program associate for the C.M.U. Office of Student Life.

Ms. Moerman said one of the objectives of aiming for students on social media was to increase attendance for the events, which has so far been successful. During the medallion hunt, groups of students from different residence halls gather their laptops and set up a headquarters in the residence hall lobby while others go out with cell phones or walkie-talkies and wait for instruction as the headquarters attempts to solve the clues about the medallion's location. Mr. Brown has made an effort to send the clues via Twitter as well as on the Office of Student Life website.

"That's the part that we like about it is the fact it gets people connected, and that's really what we're trying to do is connect students to each other, to offices, to services and more importantly, connect them to C.M.U. If we get them connected, they're probably going to stay here," Mr. Brown said. "At the end of the day, that's what we're really hoping is they come here, get connected, participate and graduate."

   Will Damian, center, tallies the final scores after the Instagram-based Gold Rush scavenger hunt at C.M.U.