Hello.

This is my first foray into the blogosphere, so I’d like to take the time to introduce myself. My name is Mark Yacoub and I’m one of the interns here at PPP for the summer. I was born and lived for 10 years just outside of Chicago in a town called Elk Grove Village. I moved to Raleigh in 1997 and have lived here ever since.

I’m entering my third year at NC State in the fall (go PACK!) and I’m majoring in Political Science. I’m thinking of going to law school after college or doing public policy work. I’ve been interested in politics ever since talk began about invading Iraq (my parents were both born and lived most of their lives in Iraq; they moved to the US in 1982) and the issue hits me on a very personal level. Polling has always intrigued me, and learning about the process is what attracted me to this internship. I started working with Students for Barack Obama a few months ago, which was my first time doing work for a political campaign. Although I’ve enjoyed doing it, I don’t think I could do it for a living. I’d rather work on the policy side of things. Hopefully this job will help me learn more about campaigns. I’m looking forward to the next couple months.