Starks
02-07-2008, 08:54 PM
UMD held a small forum tonight in which representatives for the 5 remaining candidates were invited to speak to an audience of college students such as myself.
For the Dems, the Obama and Clinton campaigns each sent one of their regional staffers to speak on their behalf.
For the GOP, the Romney campaign had intended to send someone but since Mitt dropped out, nobody came. The McCain and Huckabee campaigns were "vehemently against" sending anyone. Hence, the only GOP candidate with a person speaking or table set up was the Ron Paul HQ and grassroots campaign. In fact, there were ZERO visible supporters for Macabee in attendance. However, someone did speak on behalf of Macabee and it was the College Republicans campus president (Chris Banerjee) who hilariously spoke for both using hastily prepared statements and unabridged stump speeches.
There were at least 20 RP supporters in the small audience (no more than 100 total). Speaking on RP's behalf was Joe Seehusen, Deputy National Campaign Manager. He received huge applause whenever he finished speaking (for comparison: Chris received audible hisses, subtle boos, and only a handful of polite golf claps).
Given the nature of the forum, and in my honest opinion, no single representative "won". What is clear is that the establishment GOP lost.
Joe was extremely eloquent, driving home all the points that we've come to love. The only thing he fell short on was not being specific enough about how eliminating the taxation of tips was helpful in the long run. Additionally, I was disappointed that he didn't bring up Pell grants. It was a missed opportunity, but he more than made up for it on the "economy" and "foreign policy" questions.
Flyer with the questions and details of the forum:
http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/4567/umdforumeh1.th.png (http://img240.imageshack.us/my.php?image=umdforumeh1.png)
For the Dems, the Obama and Clinton campaigns each sent one of their regional staffers to speak on their behalf.
For the GOP, the Romney campaign had intended to send someone but since Mitt dropped out, nobody came. The McCain and Huckabee campaigns were "vehemently against" sending anyone. Hence, the only GOP candidate with a person speaking or table set up was the Ron Paul HQ and grassroots campaign. In fact, there were ZERO visible supporters for Macabee in attendance. However, someone did speak on behalf of Macabee and it was the College Republicans campus president (Chris Banerjee) who hilariously spoke for both using hastily prepared statements and unabridged stump speeches.
There were at least 20 RP supporters in the small audience (no more than 100 total). Speaking on RP's behalf was Joe Seehusen, Deputy National Campaign Manager. He received huge applause whenever he finished speaking (for comparison: Chris received audible hisses, subtle boos, and only a handful of polite golf claps).
Given the nature of the forum, and in my honest opinion, no single representative "won". What is clear is that the establishment GOP lost.
Joe was extremely eloquent, driving home all the points that we've come to love. The only thing he fell short on was not being specific enough about how eliminating the taxation of tips was helpful in the long run. Additionally, I was disappointed that he didn't bring up Pell grants. It was a missed opportunity, but he more than made up for it on the "economy" and "foreign policy" questions.
Flyer with the questions and details of the forum:
http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/4567/umdforumeh1.th.png (http://img240.imageshack.us/my.php?image=umdforumeh1.png)