Live Blogging on the ServiceNation Summit by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism

9:38 p.m.
Final thoughts, I was surprised by how much politics was hit upon during this ServiceNation forum, but then again, it is an election year. All in all, Todd and I thought McCain was stronger in this setting than Obama because he seemed more comfortable during the discussion.

To all who were out there wondering, the J-School Student Center is hotter at night than during day. And I'm channeling legendary rapper Big Daddy Kane with this one: blogging ain't easy. This was my first time blogging, thanks to Todd and the OMC911 for all your help.

9:21 p.m.
The J-School student center is pretty full right now, and the powers that be have not turned on the air conditioning. Some students are not happy with the situation. When Obama came on there was some applause --there was none for McCain. I thought we were supposed to be unbiased journalists. Oh and there's a blogger from the gossip site IvyGate hanging out in the student center with us. I wonder what she's going to write about us. Todd and I pretty much think Obama's not coming off as well as McCain and he's being vague on policy issues. We've heard a lot of this a million times. He is going to need to be specific in the debates.

9:05 p.m.
Spotted by Greg Bocquet: During the commercial break, audience members were crowding to the front of of the aisles to snap pictures of Obama, completely ignoring superstars Usher, Queen Noor of Jordan, Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio.

8:57 p.m.
Final thoughts on McCain appearance: Todd, the former Marine I'm sitting with, thought McCain came off well and agreed with his observations on the devotion of recent American immigrants to the ideals of America. He pointed out that some of the Marines he served with weren't even citizens yet.

8:50 p.m.
Habiba Nosheen, who is watching the speeches outside, got this quote from Columbia Alum Shelly Bendavid: "If McCain went last, everyone would have left by now."

8:36 p.m.
McCain was just asked about lowered military recruiting standards and the increased reliance on poor minorities to fill the ranks of the US military. Todd pointed out that actually the majority of people engaged in ground combat are white, and that many minorities in the Corps are in support roles. e.g fixing helicopters and machinery, roles translatable to civilian life. (ed. note: we don't have stats to support this assertion)

Todd thinks it's good that a lot of minorities use the military to uplift themselves, but Todd also thinks the more privileged of our society should serve in the military and he's on board with McCain's policy on allowing military recruiters at universities like Columbia. Todd also thinks that there should be some sort of required national service, military or non-military, because it's good for our national character and would foster a common bond between the rich, poor, middle class, whites, blacks, Latinos , Asians etc...

8:30 p.m.
A note from the press pit: "A gentleman just came around and asked us if any of the press would be interested in interviewing the organizers of Service Nation if they were made available to us. I felt bad, but most of us did not seem very interested."

8:21 p.m.
In McCain's words: "The busiest people are the busiest, and the busier they get the busier they get."

8:15 p.m.
Todd and I were talking about McCain's hypothetical presidential response to 9/11; Todd would not be a fan of McCain's community watch group proposal. He thinks the groups would have probably morphed into goon squads. But he's on board with the rest of McCain's proposals.

8:04 p.m.
McCain is about to give his speech and Todd respects his service, but disagrees with McCain's re-definition of torture. He believes McCain backtracked on the issue.

7:49 p.m.
Toby Maguire just spoke. Todd does not like actors. One wonders how appropriate it is to have Spiderman speaking at such an event.

7:45 p.m.
NY Governor David Paterson just began his speech and is thanking Sens. Obama, McCain, Clinton and Mayor Bloomberg and the other high profile speakers at this week's event. By the way, Todd doesn't know much about Gov. Paterson but really likes him.

7:28 p.m.
Just got an update from Habiba Nosheen, a fellow classmate who is with the other members of the press who did not get into the auditorium. "They are serving us dinner in nicely packed boxes which consist of a variety of sandwiches with a bag of pretzels, Oreo brownie, and an apple. Though no coffee. I am sitting behind ET camera crew who just turned around and asked: 'Who is speaking tonight?' "

7:08 p.m.
Todd and I were just talking about about the scene on campus for today's event and he's pretty surprised by the difference between this morning and right now. Columbia is packed with people, protesters and students outside watching the event on the steps of Low Library.

6:55 p.m.
We are eagerly awaiting word from the candidates...

6:48 p.m.
Hi, I’m Karn Dhingra, a New Media student at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. I'll be live blogging tonight's event with Todd Murphy, a fellow Houstonian and former Marine who served in Iraq in 2004. He's currently pursuing a bachelor of arts in Archaeology at Columbia's College of General studies. We're going to get his take on Obama and McCain's speeches on national service.

Americans are better right? RIGHT?

The moderators of this debate seem curiously committed to making sure both candidates describe Americans as "exceptional." Judy Woodruff asked McCain three times if "Americans are better," and Richard Stengel just asked Obama if volunteerism was part of what makes Americans so special.

Affordable education

Obama just said he would give a $4,000 tuition credit to those who serve.

Columbia Journalism School's estimated tuition this year? $41,000.

"National Service" = "Military Draft"?

Frank White, a member the Progressive Labor Party, a Communist party in the U.S., was standing outside the Columbia University gates yesterday, handing out flyers reading, "Don't Be a Sucker for 'National Service'! Candidates, ServiceNation Use Patriotism & Nationalism to Pave Way for the Draft."
"I'm here to swim against the tide," said White, 33, of Flatbush. "People have been fooled about what national service is. They view it as something innocuous. We view it as patriotism building in order to build more war."
McCain told "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" reporter Judy Woodruff that service cannot be compulsory.
White's flyers read, in part, Ultimately, the shortfall in troop numbers will be filled through a draft, promoted as 'national service, and sold as 'volunteerism.'
"It may be difficult to get the public behind an unpopular war," White said, "but if military service can be equated with grassroots community service, it might not be so unpopular."

Who is ServiceNation?

Exactly who is ServiceNation and what are they about?
According to their mission statement, they are a grassroots organization "building a national movement to inspire a new era of citizen service in America" and today's Sept. 11 Summit at Columbia University, featuring Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, is being held to launch the group.
ServiceNation is a sort of umbrella group of several well-established public-interest organizations including Be the Change, City Year, Civic Enterprises and the Points of Light Institute.
Look closer at the ServiceNation Leadership Council and you'll find some big (Glenn Close) and not-so-big (Kal Penn?) Hollywood names as well as a slew of politicians and people connected to Wall Street, banking, oil and the military, as this Christian libertarian blog has traced.
ServiceNation Leadership Council members include:
-Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota governor and recently on the short-list to be McCain's VP
-Joshua Bekenstein, managing director of Bain Capital, which was founded by Mitt Romney
-Neil Bush, younger brother of President George W. Bush, Chair of the Points of Light Institute's Executive Committee
-Al From, founder and CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council
-Michael Bloomberg, Republican mayor of New York, billionaire
-William Cohen, former Secretary of Defense; former U.S. Senator; groomsman at John McCain's second marriage
-Gary Hart, former U.S. Senator; another groomsman at McCain's second marriage
-Mike Huckabee, former Gov. of Arkansas; also-ran 2008 Republican presidential candidate.
-Sam Nunn: former U.S. Senator; board member for Chevron, Coca-Cola, Dell and General Electric
Other members include:
-Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church and author of "A Purpose-Driven Life"
-Samantha Power, Harvard University's Anna Lindh Professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy; married to legal scholar Cass Sunstein
-Cory Booker, Democratic mayor of Newark
-Silda Wall, founder of Children For Children; jilted wife of ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer
-Martin Luther King III
-Queen Noor of Jordan

Volunteers Gear Up For the Night

Warren Hamilton, 44, is just one of dozens of volunteers helping at the Service Nation event today. Dressed in blue shirts with “Service Nation” embroidered in yellow, they will be helping guide traffic, field questions and talk about service.

Volunteers, who received several hours of training earlier in the day, come from all around the country. Some knew about the event only days ago, others a month in advance.

“I live and breathe service,” said Hamilton, who took an Amtrak from Albany this morning in order to volunteer at the event. Volunteers were pulled from more than 114 Service Nation coalition organizations from around the country, according to Tim Zimmerman.

“I just want people to remember, it’s not about the candidates, it’s about service,” Hamilton said.

ServiceNation Speaker Bios - The Rest

The following speakers will take the stage tonight in the lead-up to the televised keynote speeches by John McCain and Barack Obama.

Usher
Bill Novelli
Lee Bollinge
Gov. David Paterson
Tobey Maguire
John Huey
Rick Stengel

For full bios of the speakers click here

Spiderman, The Terminator, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Bon Jovi, the First Lady, the Queen of Jordan? Oh my!

We first reported Usher attending the ServiceNation Summit earlier this week, but with Barack Obama and John S. McCain both scheduled to speak at Columbia University on the seventh anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, it's easy to overlook the growing chorus of politicians, celebrities, businesspeople and um, "community organizers" also involved in Friday's event being held at the Hilton New York.

Below is a list of all scheduled attendees for this Friday, September 12, 2008 (I divided them into broad categories so as to see which industry was ServiceNation friendly). California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will wrap up the Summit as keynote speaker on Friday night.

Charities and Foundations

• Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, The King Hussein Foundation
• Dr. Mehmet Oz, Founder and Chairman, HealthCorps
• Silda Wall, Founding Chair, Children for Children
• Wendy Kopp, Founder and CEO, Teach For America
• Jean Case, CEO, The Case Foundation
• Ray Chambers, Amelior Foundation
• Martin Luther King III, CEO, Realizing The Dream
• Kelly Caffarelli, President, Home Depot Foundation
• Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO, Harlem Children’s Zone
• Laurie Tisch, Philanthropist, Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund

Politics & Government

• Lieutenant Governor Mitchell Landrieu
• Representative Christopher Shays, Connecticut
• Admiral Michael Mullen, Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Senator Hillary Clinton, New York
• Senator Chris Dodd, Connecticut
• First Lady Laura Bush
• Governor David Paterson, New York
• Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (Keynote speaker)
  

Fashion, Music and Film

• Alicia Keys, Co-Founder and Global Ambassador, Keep A Child Alive
• Kenneth Cole, Fashion Designer
• Jon Bon Jovi, Philadelphia Soul Charitable Foundation
• Tobey Maguire, Award Winning Actor
• Usher Raymond IV, Summit Youth Chair; Founder, New Look Foundation

Education

• Lee Bollinger, President, Columbia University
• Dr. Amy Gutmann, President, University of Pennsylvania
• David Gergen, Professor, Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government
• Scott Cowen, President, Tulane University
• Chancellor Joel Klein, New York City Schools

Environment

• Robert Kennedy, Jr., President, Waterkeeper Alliance
• Jeffrey Sachs, Director, Earth Institute at Columbia University

Business

• Lloyd Blankfein, CEO, Goldman Sachs

"Mrs. Bush Saluting Service" photo by Tina Hager. Photo courtesy of White House Photo Gallery

Interview with Columbia Spokesperson David Stone

Click To Play

Sponsors stump up the cash

Five key sponsors are meeting the substantial cost of staging the two-day ServiceNation Summit, including Thursday evening's Presidential Forum.
The Carnegie Corporation of New York, alongside Time magazine, retailer Target, social networking website Facebook and over-50's group AARP, have all contributed more than $500,000 each to put on the event.


The co-sponsors - affordable house builder The Home Depot Foundation and interest group The Peter G Peterson Foundation - have also donated smaller sums of money to the organizers.
Other sponsors of the gathering include the business publication The NonProfit Times, United Nations Foundations and Bank of America. Columbia University is not being paid for hosting the forum.

And the winner is...

Students were notified this morning, via email, that they will be one of the lucky few to gain entry to the ServiceNation Forum this Thursday. Students can claim tickets at the East Ramp Lounge in Lerner Center between 2:30 and 5:00 pm today and 10:00 am through 1:00 pm tomorrow.

The email students received stipulated there will be no electronics of any kind, not even cell phones, allowed in the auditorium. Neither will bags, food, banners or signs.

Entry to the auditorium begins at 4:30 Thursday afternoon and goes until 6:30, at which time it says doors will be locked. Attendees will enter through a metal detector and may not get back in if they leave the building.

Security looks to be tight.

More on this to come.

Candidates and Columbia Confirmed

Just under two months ago, organizers spearheading this Thursday's ServiceNation Presidential Forum were missing two major components of their event: both a venue and the presidential hopefuls. Now the two senators vying for the White House are days away from appearing on the same platform at Columbia University to recognize national service.

Republican nominee John McCain agreed to attend in July after an invitation from event sponsor Time magazine. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate, signed up two weeks later. At this point ServiceNation, a national campaign of more than 100 organizations promoting citizen service, invited Columbia to host the one-off event.

"The Presidential Forum was really finalized in the last few weeks and then announced immediately," David Stone, Executive Vice President For Communications at the university, explained. "John McCain said yes. Barack Obama didn't mark down 'til a few weeks ago. It's a wonderful moment to have this extraordinary non-partisan event at Columbia."

Preparations for the two-day ServiceNation Summit, featuring a host of events at the Hilton New York on Friday, began as early as last fall, according to Mary McNaught, of Civic Enterprises LLC, one of the organizers. "Our public policy forum came together last autumn to make this amazing event happen - it's been in the works for a year," she said. "It's a truly unique coalition."

Time became an early sponsor after its The Case for National Servicefront cover last September, followed by retailer Target, social networking website Facebook and AARP. The summit is underwritten by the Carnegie Corporation.

Two-Day ServiceNation Summit in NYC

Thursday’s ServiceNation Presidential Candidate Forum will be just one part of a two-day event to kick off ServiceNation’s national campaign to enact federal service legislation by September 11, 2009.

Earlier Thursday, P.S. 124 will host a day of service organized by MyGoodDeed. Hilton New York will host a day of panel discussions and speakers including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Laura Bush on Friday. ServiceNation expects more than 500 leaders of universities, civic organizations, businesses and government from across the country to attend the Friday event.

Formed earlier this year, ServiceNation is a bipartisan campaign to gain support for service legislation sponsored by Senators Edward Kennedy and Orrin Hatch that would establish a national Declaration of Service.

“The genesis for ServiceNation was really this unique moment in our country,” explained Mary McNaught, chief of staff at Civic Enterprises, one of the organizations leading the campaign. “We have been at war for five years and citizens are looking for opportunities to serve and service organization members want to take that quantum leap and make opportunities like City Year and Peace Corps available to everyone.”

USHERing In a New Era of Service

Usher will be attending the 9/11 Service Nation event, according to public safety director John Murolo.

ServiceNation press release

servicenation - Upload a Document to Scribd

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NYPD Checks Security Procedures at Columbia University

Representatives of the New York Police Department toured the Columbia University campus Tuesday with a member of the Columbia campus safety team in preparation for a visit by senators John McCain and Barack Obama.

Ask not what your country can do for you...

ServiceNation has a page to submit questions to the candidate, as well as an online poll:

"If asked by your President, would you be willing to commit at least 50 hours a year to serving your community and country?"

In the hoopla over ticket lotteries and stalled web sites the ServiceNation Summit -- the original event -- has been sort of ignored.

The goal of the organization is to increase the number of people who commit a year to national service and who volunteer in general. It will be interesting to see if putting the candidates on the spot at Columbia will garner promises to expand programs like Americorps and Peace Corps. In his speech at the DNC, Obama did say, "If you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education," and it didn't seem like he was referring to military service.

From their web site:

"The ultimate goal of the ServiceNation Summit, which will also promulgate a Declaration of Service that all Americans will be invited to sign, is to inspire an America in which, by 2020, 100 million citizens will volunteer time in schools, workplaces, and faith-based and community institutions each and every year (up from 61 million today), and that increasing numbers of Americans annually will commit a year of their lives to national service. that engages one million Americans a year in full-time service by the year 2020."