Senior Luke Vargas Takes to the Campaign Trail

Like most of the best U.S. presidential candidates, Luke Vargas ’08 just isn’t typical.

While most high school seniors keep themselves busy studying for APs, stressing over college choices or diligently updating their Facebook profiles, Vargas spends his nights and weekends either traveling to political rallies around the country or updating his popular political blog called “Vargas for President 2040” (www.lukevargas.com), that recounts his thoughts and observations as a young voter on the campaign trail.

Pictured Above: Vargas with John McCain

“He is very politically minded,” Keith Mercurio, whom Vargas helped out with his campaign commercial when he ran for State Representative, said recently to the Watertown Tab. “Luke has a really unique take on politics; more than so than any other young guy.”
Using his “equipment”—his Dad’s car, mom’s camera, and his trusty laptop, Vargas has traveled to the Iowa caucus, met every presidential candidate (and has his picture with many of them), and has attended almost 50 debates, all with a homemade laminated press pass.

“I'm no glitzy news network, that’s for sure,” Vargas writes in the “Welcome” section of his blog. “In the Spring of 2007 I scoured the internet for a fresh source of news about the New Hampshire primary. Outside of NECN and various blogs there wasn’t much, especially anything from a student’s perspective. Within a few days I was up in the Granite State mingling with the candidates, supporters, and staffers. Since then I haven’t slowed down. These are the thoughts and opinions of an 18 year old in America...”

Vargas began to get press for his political enthusiasm after the New York Times quoted him at a Barak Obama rally during the Iowa caucus. “I got a camera for my birthday,” Vargas said to the Times, “and for Christmas I asked, ‘Can I go out to Iowa for the caucus?’”
Although Vargas is registered as an Independent voter, last summer he got his first taste of being in a national campaign working for former Democratic candidate Chris Dodd in Manchester, NH. While Vargas has supported Hilary Clinton as the Democratic nominee since Dodd left the race, Dodd’s recent support of Obama has left an impression on Vargas:

“I would still rather see Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee and the next president, but Dodd’s endorsement this morning is personal for me,” Vargas writes. “Here’s a guy whose campaign stood for ambitious environmental, national service, and educational initiatives, and whose recent career has been focused on restoring Constitution protections and opposing wiretapping and torture. In short, I respect him. With Dodd’s endorsement today, I no longer feel a wide division between my political and personal beliefs and those of Obama.”At BB&N, Vargas runs the POV, a political magazine that launched last year with a staff of 30 students who do all of the writing, editing, design and photography.

 “BB&N is a school of great intellectual standing, and we regard our students as some of the best and brightest,” wrote the editors in their first issue, “yet, we lack consistent interest and participation in the field of politics. However, we at the BB&N POV believe that politics is important: it impacts our lives in many ways, from environmental issues to education policy to issues of war and life and death. It is one of the principal goals of this magazine to present the BB&N community with a wide range of opinions and perspectives on a diverse selection of issues.”

Anyone interested in checking out The POV can download it by visiting the magazine’s website at www.bbnpov.com.

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