By Christina Smith
In the fight to win the first non-incumbent presidential election in 56 years, the voice of youth voters is more important than ever. Student representatives from Hofstra for Obama are seizing the opportunity to make a change with both hands-and they are hoping to create this change in Pennsylvania.
This weekend, 50 representatives from Hofstra for Obama join 50 students from other New York schools, including Columbia University, New York University, Fordham University, Barnard University and St. John’s University, to travel to Pennsylvania State University’s main campus at University Park.
Robb Friedlander, a sophomore political science major who is co-president of Hofstra for Obama, said the students are traveling to State College to help in what the Democratic campaign describes as “Get Out the Vote” weekend. He said the major role students will play is to make sure college students turn out to vote. Representatives will be going door to door in campus housing, making sure students at Penn. State know where and what time to go vote, and what to bring with them.
Out of nearly 37,000 undergraduate students, Penn. State’s organizations registered nearly 17,000. In a swing-state as crucial as Pennsylvania, 17,000 likely Obama votes cannot go to waste, he said.
“The Washington Post reported last week that McCain has a mathematical shot to win the presidency through Pennsylvania,” Friedlander said. “It’s a make-or-break state.”
However, as of Wednesday night, a RealClearPolitics.com average of polls in the state gave Obama an 11-point lead, making the site classify the state as solidly for Obama. Although the Web site’s polls from earlier in the week show McCain’s attempt to close the gap, Obama regained his double-digit lead.
Friedlander also said that while New York is predicted by many experts as “safe” for Obama, attending a university so close to Pennsylvania makes aiding in collegiate pro-Obama efforts in that state easier. It also gives Democrats at the University a chance to truly affect the outcome of the election.
“When we see that check mark next to Barack’s name on Nov. 4, we’ll know that we did that,” he said.
Friedlander, an Overland Park, Kansas, native, said that across the country, students are flooding swing states in an effort to ensure an Obama victory. Students are headed to Missouri and Ohio in the Midwest; to Florida in the South; to Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico in the West; and to Michigan and Wisconsin in the Upper Midwest.
“There are so many organizations and so many students going to swing states,” he said. “Missouri is so closely undecided that students from all over the Midwest are working in St. Louis and Kansas City to swing the vote in Barack’s way.”
Essentially, according to Friedlander, Hofstra for Obama wants to know that they brought as many students as they could and did as much as they could to turnthe vote in Obama’s favor.
“Our generation holds the power.” Friedlander said. “[We are] the true key to an Obama victory on Tuesday.”