Most students don't spend their free time working for campaigns and trying to win votes for politicians.

For Meredith Salsbery, the chair of College Democrats, it is part of her daily routine.

Salsbery, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, and a double major in writing-intensive English and political science, first became interested in politics when she attended Minnesota Youth and Government in high school.

The program, sponsored by the YMCA, offers high school students the opportunity to participate in a mock state legislature.

"Politics used to be a hobby, but now it's a career path," said Salsbery, whose dream job is to be a U.S. senator.

Salsbery, a Minnesota native, spends about 20 hours a week working with the College Democrats and is the communications director for the College Democrats of Wisconsin.

She organizes volunteers for events sponsored by the Democrats and started a "Support Our Troops" letter writing campaign for soldiers in Iraq.

In September, she volunteered with Sen. John Kerry's (Mass.) campaign in Spring Green, Wis., where she met the presidential nominee for the first time.

She was in Spring Green for the preparation of the first presidential debate, volunteering by driving motorcades to and from the location of the debate preparation.

"It's nice to be asked to do these things, but it takes a huge amount of time," said Salsbery, who regrets taking classes this semester.

"I could have gotten more out of taking the classes next semester and focusing on the campaign right now," she said.

One of her biggest accomplishments, she said, was receiving the Raynor Distinguished Scholarship to attend Marquette. The scholarship offers full tuition to three students each year.

Salsbery said the scholarship was one of the main reasons she decided to come to Marquette instead of the University of Chicago, Georgetown University or American University.

When Salsbery was 19 her hero and role model, former Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone, passed away, leaving her shocked and upset. She spent the summer of 2002 volunteering for his campaign.

"When he died in 2002, it tore me apart," she said. "Everyone called him Paul. He was dedicated to whatever the people needed."

In 2003, Salsbery spent seven months at the Les Aspin Center for Government in Washington, D.C., where she worked as the training director for 21st Century Democrats, a grassroots campaign organization.

According to Ryan Alexander, Milwaukee campus coordinator for Wisconsin Democrats, Salsbery is an "incredibly politically active" student.

"She continues to amaze me with how much she is willing to do and what she's done in the past," he said.

Justin Backlund, a senior at Concordia College in Minnesota, met Salsbery at the Youth and Government program.

"Salsbery is incredibly brilliant, determined, hard-working and kindhearted" he said. "I wouldn't be surprised to see her running for office in the future. She's talked about running for president, and she could definitely do it."

As for Salsbery, she has no plans to run for president but would "love to do the job" if asked by her fellow party members.

"I hope that I am not the first female president," she said. "Our society is at a point where I think we're ready to accept a female president, and I certainly hope it happens before I am even eligible to run for president.

"I'm not in politics to have my face in the paper. It's not about me, it's about what we do," she said. "Politics is more than the bitter fighting in the Senate and in campaigns. It's about helping others."