Brief Encounter Made Her a Clinton Fan

Gia Daniller describes her first encounter with Bill Clinton as if recalling a religious vision.

It was just past dawn and Daniller, a Los Angeles-area woman attending the University of Pennsylvania, emerged bleary-eyed from a computer lab where she had pulled an all-nighter writing a term paper. Jogging toward her that golden April morning was a tall man in shorts, T-shirt and baseball cap, accompanied by several companions.

Initial disbelief that anyone was moving that quickly at such an hour gave way to wide-eyed awe as Clinton waved and said hello as he shuffled past. Although she was wearing low heels and laden with a book-filled shoulder bag, Daniller impulsively gave chase--until the bag’s strap broke.

“At that point, I had already decided that he was a god and I loved him,” gushed Daniller, 22. “I thought it was not only way past time to have a Democrat in the White House, but he was the person to make it happen.”

In a sense, Daniller has been following Clinton’s path ever since. She volunteered to work on his campaign and later became a paid staff member. Today, like thousands of other young Americans turned on by the generational appeal of Clinton and Vice President-elect Al Gore, Daniller has come to this capital city to be part of the inaugural and to knock on doors they hope will open to low-level jobs in the new Administration or on Capitol Hill.

Daniller, the middle of three daughters of a Tarzana plastic surgeon, says she believes that the excitement Clinton has generated among her peers is much like the sense of expectation John F. Kennedy sparked in Clinton and his fellow baby boomers three decades ago. Clinton’s appeal to younger Americans was borne out on Election Day, when he reversed years of Republican gains to carry 18- to 30-year-olds by a wide margin.

“He definitely inspired so many young people,” Daniller said. “He just knew how to relate. When he did the MTV piece and he went on (“The Arsenio Hall Show”), it made a difference. People felt he knew where we were coming from. He showed our concerns were valid.”

Daniller graduated from college in May, worked as a volunteer at the Democratic National Convention in July and joined the Clinton campaign in Los Angeles in September.

She led a highly successful effort that registered more than 10,000 students in Southern California. She also helped organize a youth event in Santa Monica that raised more than $75,000 for Clinton and provided a second brush with the then-Arkansas governor: She had her picture taken with him and other fund-raising honchos.

Daniller says she would like to call herself “a new kind of Democrat” but doesn’t feel she’s old enough to do so. Her interest in government grew in college, in step with rising concerns for the plight of inner cities, women’s rights, the faltering education system and race relations.

Even before their paths crossed that April morning, the day Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary, Daniller said she was most drawn to the candidate because “he views government as something good and something that can help people, not as the enemy, like Ronald Reagan. I agree with his overall philosophy that government can help build a sense of community.”

Daniller said that after the jogging encounter, as the campaign continued to struggle with the issue of Clinton’s personal trust, she fantasized about political advertisements featuring ordinary people--including herself--testifying to his character.

In September, she became one of 26 young members of the Presidential Students Corps, a statewide program begun by the California Democratic Party to increase voter registration and political involvement on college campuses across the state. Between Labor Day and Election Day, she put in 12-hour-plus days, seven days a week for $750 a month, and “it didn’t seem like work.”

Gone were the ideas about Clinton TV ads. “I no longer had time,” she said.

“Determined,” is the way that Susan Blad, the party’s statewide campus coordinator, describes Daniller. “She truly believed that not only did we need a change in our government, but that it was possible and that she could do it.”

Flushed with victory, Daniller decided to make her way to Washington before the inauguration. A business major, she hopes eventually to go to graduate school. But that will have to wait.

“If he won, I wanted to be in Washington,” she said. “There was no other place I wanted to be.”

She arrived the day after Christmas, initially staying with friends. She’s working on an ambitious youth event Monday that will highlight Clinton’s pledge to establish a national service program to enable Americans to work off a portion of their college loans. And, when she has time, she is circulating her resume.