Five dollars was all she needed to make her point.
During the Democratic primary, College sophomore Sarah Arkebauer clicked on an e-mail from Sen. Hillary Clinton.
In the e-mail, Clinton asked for any donation to help counter a statement from Sen. Barack Obama comparing her to President George W. Bush.
In response, Arkebauer gave what she admitted was a "laughable sum," but she said the act seemed "worthwhile."
"I felt like participating," she said. "Every little bit would help."
Now in the close general election, as candidates drop millions of dollars into advertising and legwork in battleground states like Pennsylvania, no contribution is too small to ignore.
With Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain locked in a contentious race for the White House, both campaigns are reaching out to whoever is able to lend a hand.
And for both candidates, universities are a primary source for the most important kinds of campaign aid: time and money.
Across the country, Obama has built his campaign around small donors.
Of the $66 million his campaign garnered in August, 51 percent came from donations of less than $200, according to the Campaign Finance Institute. For McCain, 41 percent of donations were at this level. Campaign-finance laws permit individuals to donate a maximum of $2,300 to a candidate, though more money can be given to national, state and local party committees and political action committees.
Obama has refused to accept contributions from lobbyists and political action committees, relying primarily on small donations from more than two million unique donors, said Zach Friend, a spokesman for the Obama campaign.
"Five- or 25-dollar donations are as legitimate as larger donations," Friend said.
Straight Talk ExpressCard
Wharton sophomore Nick Greif had never contributed to a candidate seriously before last year.
But then, McCain ran for president.
"When I view the presidency," said Greif, "[the president] needs to be someone of strong moral character."
Greif said McCain "fits the mold" and, though not perfect, has always "worked toward reform."
In summer 2007, when McCain's campaign looked as though it might collapse before a single vote had been cast, Greif got online and sent what he could.
"I wanted to help," said Greif, who, like others interviewed for this article, asked that the exact amount of his donations be withheld.
Greif said he thinks McCain avoids partisan politics and works for the "betterment of the country" - and Greif was hardly finished donating to the McCain campaign.
Following the New Hampshire primary, which McCain won, he was inspired to give a second time.
After McCain clinched the delegates necessary to win the Republican nomination, Greif gave a third time - at that point reaching the maximum contribution level allowed by federal campaign finance law.
With polls indicating strong support for Obama among young people, Greif has enjoyed bucking the traditional student trend, particularly on Penn's liberally leaning campus.
"I enjoy playing the devil's advocate," said Greif, who was partially responsible for an April Fool's Day prank last spring claiming that Obama was speaking on campus.
Greif and others placed Easter eggs with fake tickets along Locust Walk and posted flyers promoting the event around the campus.
But giving sizable donations is no joke, and Greif, like the thousands of students contributing to candidates this election season, said he did "anything [he] could do, even if it was a long-shot."
Time is money
With just five weeks left before the 2008 election, students' time - perhaps even more than their money -- is viewed as the key to winning the presidential race.
Student leaders and campaign officials agree that youth involvement is necessary to perform the basic tasks of campaign grunt work, such as calling voters, knocking on doors and getting people to the polls on election day.
And that grunt work is what makes the difference between the Oval Office and a Senate office.
"We really push for time," said Lauren Burdette, president of Penn Democrats.
"We'll help students learn how to contribute to the campaign," but our focus is volunteering, she said, adding that the group never mentions donating to campaigns at meetings.
Burdette considers student volunteers the backbone of any political campaign, and she maintains that financial contributions, while helpful, are by no means necessary.
"Our election prospects hinge" on students, Friend said, referring to both their donations and volunteer efforts.
"They're giving thousands of dollars worth of their time," Friend said.
And while students generally tend to favor Obama, McCain's campaign also cannot operate without these young volunteers.
"College students make important contributions by volunteering for the campaign," said Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the McCain campaign.
He said students provide "the energy and enthusiasm" necessary to win in November.
Burdette said she sees volunteering as a "generational balance."
"We don't have jobs," she said. "So, the older generations donate the money, and students donate the work."
Classroom contributions
David Pope hardly brushes the subject of politics in his classroom full of Engineering students, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have an opinion.
Pope, a professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and his wife decided to give a sizable donation to Obama in the third quarter of this year, the first time he has been a significant contributor to a presidential campaign.
Pope said he had "become upset with the way the current political situation was unfolding" over the past eight years.
Additionally, he said he doesn't view contributing as an issue of bias in the classroom, even though he admits to using a few jokes about conservatives during Physics lectures.
"Political considerations shouldn't play a role" in the classroom, Pope said.
While college professors are often seen as liberal and Democratic-leaning, even conservative students recognize a professor's right to support a candidate - so long as they leave their opinions out of the lecture hall.
"I have no issue with professors taking sides and getting involved," Greif said, but it's "not appropriate in the slightest" for professors to be political in class, including "subliminal" jokes.
Alan Charles Kors, a History professor known for his defense of academic freedom, said professors should not be afraid to contribute simply because donations are made public by the Federal Elections Commission.
He added that professors should be evaluated "only on scholarly and pedagogical merit."
But he also does not believe that "private political commitments" belong in a classroom.
Kors has given a significant donation to McCain during this election and gave to Bush in 2004.
And while some professors choose not to contribute, they see donating as a personal decision.
Kathleen Hall Jamieson, professor of Political Communication and director of FactCheck.org - a non-partisan Web site that monitors the accuracy of politicians' statements - said professors "have the right to contribute to campaigns if they choose and none should impede that right."
