One ASU student is taking a note from Theodore Roosevelt’s political playbook: “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”

Political science senior Matt Wharton, president of the College Republicans at the West campus and chairman of the Arizona Federation of College Republicans, isn’t the most talkative guy in politics, but his supporters say he gets the job done.

Before Wharton took over the helm of the College Republicans, the club never had more than 50 or 60 people on their e-mail list, said William Ackroyd, the club’s adviser. Now the number has increased almost sixfold, and the organization has rallied its support behind Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and other Republican races.

Ackroyd, a social and behavioral science lecturer on the West campus, attributes the success to Wharton’s organization abilities. He said Wharton is quiet and reserved but smart and methodical in his political endeavors.

“He’s got a good gut feeling for people and organization, which I see in very few people. He has something you can’t teach,” Ackroyd said. “He’s going to be a congressman or a senator.”

Wharton said one of his goals when he became president of the College Republicans was to bring more visibility to the party on campus. One way he was able to do this was though the College Republicans’ sponsorship of a Sept. 11 event in 2007 that brought politicians like U.S. Rep. Trent Franks and former congressman J.D. Hayworth to speak. Wharton said almost 3,000 flags were placed on Fletcher Lawn to memorialize each person lost in the tragedy.

“It was the first big event we had at ASU West,” Wharton said.

He said the concepts of limited government, national security, accountability and low taxes are a few of the things that he likes about the Republican Party. Wharton said he became interested in politics eight years ago.

“My mom used to listen to Rush [Limbaugh], but I hated it until about the 2000 election,” Wharton said.

This year he has stepped up his devotion to the Republican Party, putting in countless hours for two candidates: John McCain and John Allen, a former Republican candidate for the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Allen said he originally went to the Arizona Republican Party headquarters looking for an assistant to help with his campaign, but after meeting Wharton, Allen hired him as his campaign manager instead.

Allen said Wharton designed mailers and worked on campaign strategies. The two traveled the state together campaigning and working six days a week.

“Matt’s seen enough of me for a long time,” Allen said.

Allen lost his bid for a seat on the commission, an office that deals mainly with energy policy, when he was defeated in the September primary election by only 2,000 votes.

“We lost by three-tenths of a percentage point. If only Matt’s ability had been just three-tenths of a percentage point better,” Allen said. “No, but Matt’s an all around good guy. He gets a lot of volunteers driven to do what’s needed, and he does good job of getting people to follow him.”

Wharton said his experience on the Allen campaign further solidified his future goals in politics.

“I worked on all aspects of the campaign and believed in the candidate and his ability to help people,” Wharton said. “That’s why I’d like to run for office someday.”

This semester Wharton said he took a lighter class load so he could devote time to the general election, and he’s logged more than 15,000 calls in support of McCain.

He was chosen as co-chair for the Arizona Youth for McCain Coalition and was one of only seven College Republicans and 55 Arizonans sent to the battleground state of New Mexico to canvass for McCain the weekend before the election.

Before leaving for New Mexico, Wharton said he expected the experience to be overwhelming but was excited to spend long hours campaigning for McCain.

“I don’t want to wake up Wednesday morning thinking I could have put in an extra hour,” he said. “It’s all or nothing.”

Reach the reporter at philip.haldiman@asu.edu.