Dear Presidential candidates:ÿWhere are you? Do you want our votes or not?

We know you are busy, we know you say you care about education, but where are you?

We mere ISU students must not be influential enough to warrant your attention, to spare a few moments while you travel all over Iowa.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: We are a student body of 27,380 students and more than 8,000 full-time employees.

We are a key group for the rapidly approaching Iowa Caucuses.

If you plan to get here before the semester is over, you only have a bit more than a month to get going and do it.

Carol Moseley Braun and Dennis Kucinich are the only candidates who have given a talk on campus.

But as for the rest of you all?

The Rev. Al Sharpton, you get a few points because you had planned for a talk on campus in September but rescheduled indefinitely.

Mr. Kerry, you’ve only been here for a short time in residence halls before the Iowa-Iowa State football game.

You know, I think it’s precisely those few hours when students are so interested in the presidential race that they want to hang out. Either that or they’re watching the game.

Dr. Dean, you have not been on campus yet. And you want to be a leading candidate in Iowa?

You had an event in Story City and had the nerve to ask students to come to you.

Gen. Clark and Sen. Lieberman, you have both dropped out of the Iowa Caucuses, so I guess you have an excuse for now.

Rep. Gephardt, where are you?

According to Thursday’s Washington Post, the Iowa caucus is closest between Howard Dean and Rep. Dick Gephardt, but Dennis Kucinich, John Kerry and John Edwards have also done well.

Why is it that only Kucinich has been here?

On your Web sites, education seems to be a priority on the platform.

Dr. Dean, you say you care about public higher education on your Web site, “Today, as tuition at public colleges and universities rises rapidly due to state budget cuts and the president’s reckless fiscal policy, the federal government needs to renew its commitment to broader access to higher education.”

Sen. Edwards, your Web site says, “Make college affordable for every student willing to work for it through college for everyone.”

Rep. Gephardt ironically lists “Higher education and student issues” as one of his top Web site features.

It strikes me as difficult for you, Mr. Gephardt to lay claim to Iowa education issues without visiting and telling us about it.

From your site, John Kerry, you say, “Kerry has worked to expand and protect federal student loan programs and federal scholarships.

“He supports increasing the maximum Pell Grant, and would back ‘super’ Pell Grants, which provide additional assistance for eligible students who graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class.”

It seems you all care in words, but what about in action?

Patricia Miller, director of the Committee on Lectures at Iowa State, is surprised.

She said that in all fairness, your staffers and even you, the candidates, have expressed desire to get to Iowa State, but you are often at the mercy of the schedulers.

“In my over 20 years here, we’ve never worked so hard to bring presidential candidates to the students and faculty of Iowa State,” Miller said.

Grand Avenue in Des Moines is alive with recent college graduates (probably mostly liberal arts grads) from across the country, working your campaign offices.

One would think, given the average age of Iowa campaign staffers, Iowa State would be a priority.

It is truly sad we have had only two of the nine Democratic candidates to campus at an appropriate place and time to speak with large groups of students.

It seems you want speak volumes about Iowa’s higher education but have yet to come to our campus to sell your ideas.

In Iowa State, you have access to thousands of students and faculty and connections in nearly every community in Iowa and all 50 states.

We have the microphones, podiums, rooms and throngs of interested students and staff.

Come and show us you care about students and about higher education in Iowa.

What are you waiting for?