Local Jewish voices resound
in both residential cam di ns.
Joining Kerry's National Team
R
fight after the president's State of the Union
address in January, Justin Segall turned to a friend
and said, "This country can't have four more years of
Bush. We need to work for John Kerry."
Segall, 21, a senior majoring in political science at
Duke UniVersity in North Carolina, began his political
journey by working locally for the Kerry campaign.
After a few months of networking, Segall found
himself in Washington, D.C., first interning in the
office of Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., in May, then in the
Democratic Party's mid-Atlantic finance office in June.
More networking led to the national Kerry campaign
and his present job, working as
a member of vice-presi-
dential candidate Sen.
John Edward's
national advance
staff.
An advance
staff organiz-
es events and
arranges all
the details
and logistics
of a visit
from a candi-
date.
"Most of the
events are cam-
paign events like
rallies and town halls,"
said Segall. "We get in and have between
three days to a week to set something up.
If we go in three days before, there's not a
lot of sleep."
Segall joins several Jews in their 20s
with ties to Detroit working on the
national level, among them: Jordan
Nodel, who grew up in West Bloomfield
and works for the Jewish Outreach for
John Kerry in Washington; Simon
Behrmann, who grew up in West
Bloomfield and works as an associate
director of advance for Kerry; Michael
Simon, who grew up in Birmingham and
serves as the political deputy for electoral
strategy in the Kerry campaign in
Washington; and Brandon Pollack, who
grew up in West Bloomfield and serves as
a deputy regional political director.
Justin Segall and colleague Kerstin Smith of Lombard, Ill., check
Segall grew up in Colorado, but his
Sen. Edwards' schedule while he stumps in Detroit in September.
father, Neil, grew up in Detroit, then
moved to West Bloomfield. His family
do," he said. "I've always been drawn to politics and
moved to Colorado in the mid-1970s after his father
government
.
graduated from medical school at Michigan State -
His
future
is
clear.
University.
"I want to go back to Colorado eventually. I like a
Justin's mother, Laurie, was born in Muskegon, and
broad
range of experiences, but ultimately do want to
his great-grandfather started the first synagogue there.
run
for
office. I feel very strongly about our political
Although this is his first time in a full-time campaign
system
and being involved. I see it as the best way for
job, he did volunteer and canvass in Denver for the
positive
social change" he said. "When I was 10, I told
Democratic Party in 2000.
my
family
I wanted to be a U.S. senator."
"I did as much as a 17-year-old in high school could
. — Harry Kirsbaum, sta f f writer
Conservative Values
n any given day, Jenny Brams will shuttle
Bush-Cheney signs from one campaign office
to another, take to the phones to raise money for
the Republican Party, or go door to door to help
local candidates.
The 17-year-old from Farmington Hills spends
her free time studying for the ACT, a college
entrance exam.
"I've always loved politics since I can remember,
but I really got involved in a class project in 2002,"
she said.
It was freshman year at North Farmington High
School and her mother, Sue, had a connection to
the campaign of U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg, R-
Bloomfield Hills, said Brams, who now is home-
schooled through the Clonlara online high school.
g ml,tr for Women
CarneWBush.com
, ss
INNIEN.Nti
She considers herself very conservative and most
of her friends are older and connected to the
Republican Party.
"I believe in a lot of the core values in the
Republican Party. And I believe that President
Bush has the capability of keeping us safe, and that
is my main concern," she said. "I am also pro-life
and pro-family values, and I feel that the
Republican Party has kept that alive in our society."
Now, she said her mother has become a more
active volunteer with the Knollenberg campaign
and the Oakland County Republican Party.
— Harry Kirsbaum, staff writer
Left: Jenny Brams at work on the Bush campaign.
aN
10/29
2004
19