Representatives from Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign team came to campus Thursday on her behalf to inform students of her platform and latest ranking in national polls.
During the event held in the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication, Dana Singiser and Judy Lichtman spoke about Clinton’s political stance on the war in Iraq.
Lichtman said if Clinton is elected as president she plans to end the war.
She also said Clinton agrees the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans was a disgrace on the behalf of the current administration.
Lichtman said Clinton is ahead in every state in the polls, except for the other runners, who are ahead in their home state.
“I think she is the best candidate to be president of the United States, ” said Singiser, director of womens’ outreach. “She is the most qualified, she has the most experience, and she will be ready to hit the ground running January 20, 2009.”
Singiser said the upcoming election is going to be an important election, and U.S. citizens overwhelmingly believe Clinton is qualified for presidency. She said 81 percent of Democrats support Clinton, and she is ahead of both Republican forerunners in the polls.
“I support Hillary because she is the best presidential candidate running from either party running,” said Lichtman, senior adviser for women’s outreach. “We think every vote matters.”
Lichtman said FAMU is a great place to speak to students about Clinton because the students are being well informed in politics.
Amanda Wilkerson, 25, organized the event for Clinton’s campaign team.
“It was not even a conscious choice, it was a natural choice,” said Wilkerson, a political science student from Miami. She said, “African Americans are not monolithic,” which means they often conform as a group.
Wilkerson said someone from Clinton’s team needed to speak at FAMU because Barack Obama came to Tallahassee.
“I wanted to bring a candidate to the students and not just to the city; it’s a difference,” Wilkerson said. “There’s a history of her supporting FAMU, and I wanted to recognize that support of her.”
Mario Henderson said the Clinton campaign team’s decision to travel to FAMU was a great way to inform students of the political elections that are going on in the United States.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to expose students to electoral politics and an excellent way to get students intimately involved with the people who are helping to make decisions on a national level,” said Henderson, 19, a sophomore political science student from Daytona Beach. “So we are just trying to start the conversation on FAMU campus and continue it through end of the election season.”
Vincent Evans, a freshman political science student from Jacksonville, said Clinton’s campaign team speaking at FAMU was an event the University should be proud of.