Spring Break
Clinton visits campus to urge community to vote for Jim Martin
By: Kristen Reed
Issue date: 12/1/08 Section: News
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Former President Bill Clinton rallied support for Democratic Senate candidate, Jim Martin on CAU's campus Wednesday evening.
Over 2,000 community members and students from CAU, Spelman and Morehouse flooded the Trevor Arnett Quadrangle in anticipation of the evening's speakers. Excitement levels were high for everyone waiting for the Clinton and Martin's speeches.
"I'm very excited about Bill [Clinton] being here. I have been wanting to see him for a long time and now that he's here at the school, I think it's a really good opportunity to meet him," said Jasmine Rogers, a freshman Dual Degree Engineering major.
Kalani Allen, sophomore political science major and data list coordinator for Students for Barack Obama said, "The compelling reason why I chose to join the efforts to help the now 44th president-elect of the United States, Barack Obama is because of the young college students of America, my generation, depends on Congress and our national leaders.
"I believe president-elect Obama and Jim Martin demonstrate those leadership roles needed in Congress today," she added.
With an introduction from Martin in which he praised Clinton's presidency, saying "You gave us an economy that worked for the middle class, a government that put families before big businesses and a nation that was building a brighter future for our children."
He wasted no time stating why Martin should win over Chambliss. "I think his opponent [Chambliss] elected on a false premise six years ago and is running on a false premise today," he said.
"This country does not need to build a firewall against the future, it needs a bridge to the future and Jim Martin is a bridge builder," he added.
Jasmine Rogers was at first unsure whether she would return to the polls but then changed her mind. "I was just inspired [to vote]. Listening to his [Jim Powell] speech and actually feeling that Barack Obama does need help in the U.S. He needs the Senate's vote. He needs all 60 of them," she said.
Many wondered how CAU was fortunate enough to host these special guests. According to Jennifer Jiles, Interim Senior Director of Marketing and Communications, a Jim Martin representative contacted CAU because they wanted to hold the rally at an HBCU.
The runoff election will be on Dec. 2. The winning candidate needs to receive 50 percent of the vote to win the seat, which neither Martin nor Chambliss did in the Nov. 4 election. In that election, Chambliss won 49.8 percent of the vote, Martin received 46.8 percent of the votes and Alan Buckley, the Libertarian Candidate, collected the remaining 3.4 percent.
