Dems battle it out at Drexel

Left to right: Gov. Ed Rendell and Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) clap at the beginning of last night's Democratic Primary debate held at Drexel University.

They do care.

Hundreds of college students, politicos and protestors donning skulls gathered last night at Drexel University to show their support for - and criticisms of - the democratic contenders for the presidency.

Drexel University hosted the fourth of six Democratic Primary debates for U.S. presidential candidates last night, drawing in seven of the eight candidates: Sens. Joe Biden (D-Del.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Barack Obama (D-Il.), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former Sen. John Edwards.

Mike Gravel was not allowed to attend because he failed to meet fundraising and polling requirements.

Most of the candidates used the platform - moderated by NBC's Brian Williams and Tim Russert from Meet the Press - to lob a string of attacks at Clinton, challenging her on everything from her relatively hawkish policy toward Iran to her fundraising sources.

Obama accused Clinton of "changing positions whenever it's politically convenient" and touted his own honesty and consensus-building skills in addressing economic and foreign policy problems.

The sharpest criticism came from Edwards, who accused Clinton of defending a "broken" and "corrupt" system by voting to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.

At times, Clinton struggled to rebut the attacks, and when she backed off an earlier comment she made that supported issuing drivers licenses to illegal aliens, Edwards criticized her for "double-talk."

But in other instances, she remained resolute in her viewpoints, specifically her criticisms of the current administration.

"We've got to turn the page on George Bush and Dick Cheney," she said. "In fact, we have to throw the whole book away. This has been a disastrous period in American history, and we hope it will be aberration."

Other popular, student-relevant topics included Pell Grants and ways for students to pay off tuition by participating in military and community service.

The overall tense debate concluded with a lighthearted note: Kucinich said he had seen a U.F.O, and Obama discussed his Halloween costume - possibly Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and a Republican presidential candidate.

Candidates also threw humorous attacks at other candidates.

Biden went after Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and Republican presidential candidate, saying: "There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun and a verb and 9/11."

After the debate, Obama, Kucinich, Biden and Richardson spoke to over 400 Drexel students at the nearby Mandell Theater.

School and city officials, including Michael Nutter, hoped the event would raise awareness about the mayoral elections next week.

Although Drexel's administration played a major part in bringing the debate to campus, beating Temple University and Penn, over 140 Drexel student volunteers helped host the event.

The off-campus location didn't stop Penn students from attending: College junior Natalie Kelly, for example, came with two other Penn students to show her support for Edwards.

"He's a man of action," she said after Edwards briefly walked along Chestnut Street to meet with supporters. "I'm very excited that I got to shake his hand."

Comments (7)

[QUOTE id="30e0e588-9b9d-4979-9142-52a44d769bb5"]I still can't believe they held this at Drexel (instead of Penn) and on top of that that there weren't seats reserved for penn students.[/QUOTE] Geeze talk about a sense of entitlement. lol Drexel is an up and comer and Penn wallows in it's own hubris. Not to mention the populace here would end up whining about various elements of the affair instead of being grateful that they were able to host something like this. Better luck next time.

I still can't believe they held this at Drexel (instead of Penn) and on top of that that there weren't seats reserved for penn students.

[QUOTE id="e24a263e-7840-4dca-b09b-d8e6b3633ee4"]As a transfer from Drexel to Penn, I can say the two schools are in different orbits. A few yards apart but nothing in common. There are alot of struggling students at DU but the ones who succeed are often better thinkers than your average status-obsessed Penn asshole.[/QUOTE] This can't be how you honestly feel or else you wouldn't have transfered to Penn. If Drexel produces better thinkers, then why didn't you stay there and become a great thinker, especially if status is irrelevant as you suggest. I have a lot of good friends at Drexel and I respect Drexel, but this comment is hypocritical at best and absurd at worst.

As a transfer from Drexel to Penn, I can say the two schools are in different orbits. A few yards apart but nothing in common. There are alot of struggling students at DU but the ones who succeed are often better thinkers than your average status-obsessed Penn asshole.

Obama Supporter Helps Edwards People at Rally http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/10/31/112421/68 Darrell Hyde was our best cheerleader (1+ / 0-) Recommended by: Luam I was there at 6am holding the best location for our Campaign. Darrell Hyde was our best cheerleader ! I was out there with him but he had the chants ! The hillary campaign again broke the rules with giant signs and bull horns but were down the street. The politico interviewed me after i went down the street to confront the man with the bullhorn. I made sure edwards people and gravel people were next to us with Biden on the other side to keep us from getting infected. We had the hope sign posted exactly across the street from the front door of the debates above my 3 ft by 8 ft banner i bought back on march. The round signs laminated which were under the OBAMA08 signs on sticks looked great :) We had two banners + 60 OBAMA08 signs on the guard rails. Lastly ACT UP CAME MARCHING IN WITH AT LEAST 500 PEOPLE WITH SIGNS SHOWING THE EVIL HILLARY CLINTON'S HEALTH PLAN It was great because hillay did have the outgoing crooked mayor streets gang helping her as she would have never had enough supporters without them. The confrontation between the true people of color and many races of ACT UP versus the "paid" hillary clinton was so great. The Hillary people looked so depressed when the 4 times amount of ANTI HILLARY SUPPORTERS OF ACT UP CAM MARCHING IN. They had drums and burning sticks and mask and signs making Hillary look like the eveil woman she is. It was so great. ACT UP was a powerful force. Obama supporters also chanted with JENA 6 SUPPORTERS TO HELP BRING ABOUT CHANGE FOR THE JENA 6 ! DARRELL HYDE our great cheerleader had a great chant 1 2 3 4 elect obama end the war 5 6 7 8 BARACK OBAMA IN 08 OR He said WHEN I SAY O YOU SAY OBAMA O the crowd chanted O B A M A WHEN I SAY END YOU SAY WAR he says WAR we all said END THE WAR WE ALSO HADE A GREAT GROUP OF YOUNG TEEN FEMALES FROM DREXEL WHO HAD PRACTICED CHANTS WHICH REALLY HELPED THE CROWD GET INSPIRED. WE HAD THE MOST DIVERSE GROUP THERE. It was so wonderful and i am so happy for Phila for being there. WHEN I SAY FIRED YOU YOU SAY READY TO GO FIRED UP !!!!!

[QUOTE id="30e0e588-9b9d-4979-9142-52a44d769bb5"]I still can't believe they held this at Drexel (instead of Penn) and on top of that that there weren't seats reserved for penn students.[/QUOTE] There were only 100 tickets for Drexel students allotted by NBC. Why should any of those go to Penn students??? Nothing at Penn is allocated to Drexel students.

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