Website: www.gerryconnolly.com
Party: Democrat
Education:
B.A. in Literature, Maryknoll College
M.A. in Public Administration, Harvard University
Political Highlights:
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors: 2003-Present
Providence District Supervisor: 1994-2003
Key Issues:
Economy
Iraq
Health Care
Environment
Education
Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain has just announced that he is suspending his campaign. McCain campaign headquarters stated that he will continue the suspension until “the economic crisis is over.” McCain has asked Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama to suspend his campaign as well and postpone Friday’s debate on foreign policy. Obama’s campaign has yet to comment.
In a conference call with student journalists today, Michelle Obama touted the importance of the youth vote to this fall’s presidential election.
“Young people can make a huge difference,” said Obama, “No matter who they are voting for, we need young people to register to vote.”
In 2000, only 36 percent of registered voters age 18-24 voted in the presidential election. That number only increased to 47 percent in 2004.
“This year we have got to turn this trend around and I think we are doing that. Young folks, as well as anyone, know why this matters,” Obama said. “We need all the young people we have met to stay involved and to really stay focused. Young people…will be dealing with the effects of this election for the rest of their lives.”
Obama said her husband’s most important agendas are the economy, healthcare, ending the war in Iraq “responsibly” and investing in schools and renewable energy. She cautioned however, against rash optimism regarding the capabilities the next president will have to make sweeping changes.
“The next president, whoever it will be, will be inheriting a crisis at home and abroad,” she said. “The next president can lead us in a different direction…or the next president could not.”
Overall, Obama stressed the impact her husband’s educational platforms will have on current and future students. Drawing on her experience as a mother, she reminded the gathered journalists that she and her husband will have to prepare for the personal debt of their own children’s higher education.
“Barack and I just paid down our student loans,” she added.
In an effort to distinguish her husband’s platform from that of his Republican opponent Sen. John McCain, Obama stressed Barack’s proposed legislation to increase Pell Grants to $5,100 and his continued commitment to keeping it at “pace with rising costs.”
Obama also promoted the new website www.voteforchange.com, a product of the Obama campaign. It assists potential voters by allowing them to register to vote, find out if they are already registered, register for an absentee ballot, find the nearest polling location and other practical voting information.
Editor’s Note:
Although www.voteforchange.com is paid for by Obama’s presidential campaign, the editors of Mason Votes feel that its non-partisan information is important enough to be featured by our website. We will be linking it from our website. Mason Votes editors have contacted the campaigns of McCain, Cynthia McKinney, Bob Barr and Ralph Nader in search of similar sites. Only Nader’s campaign provided a similar site, www.votersunite.com, which will also be linked from our website.
By David Pierce, courtesy of Broadside
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke at a foreign policy town hall meeting, sponsored by presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign, Saturday in Dewberry Hall. She was part of a three-person panel that included terrorism expert Richard Clarke and Rep. Jane Harman (D.-Calif.)
Albright, 71, introduced herself as a life-long scholar of national security policy and expressed her opinion about the current global scene. “I don’t think I have ever seen the world in such a mess and that is a diplomatic term,” Albrigh said.
Albright outlined major foreign policy issues that she felt the next president has to face once elected. She explained that the country needs to fight terrorism without creating more terrorists in the process, placing blame on the Bush administration. “Even former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld said we were creating more terrorists,” Albright said, adding “not everybody who dislikes us is part of Al Qaeda.”
The former secretary of state claimed our nonproliferation system was broken. She said that the original agreement was that nations with nuclear arms should disarm, while those who do not have nuclear weapons should not acquire them. “Both sides of that bargain have been broken,” said Albright. She felt that the United States has not disarmed and that North Korea has exploded a nuclear weapon, both occurring while President Bush has been in office.
Albright also expressed concern regarding the negative aspects of globalization, especially the expanding gap between the rich and the poor. She felt that the recent financial crisis affecting the global stock market was of major concern to the next president, as well as the importance of talking to our enemies as a diplomatic tool.
“When President Obama suggests we talk to Iran, it is a sign of strength, not of weakness,” explained Albright. She had some advice for President Bush, “You don’t say to a country ‘I won’t talk to you until you do all of the things that we are actually going to talk about,’” said Albright, “which is what is going on now [in the Bush administration].”
Harman assured the audience of the capability of Senators Obama (D-Il.) and Joe Biden (D-Del.), if elected. “Democratic women and men understand security issues,” claimed Harman adding “It’s a slam dunk for Obama-Biden.” She also criticized the Bush administration’s handling of the September 11 terrorist attacks and the war in Iraq. “We’ve had seven years to capture, or kill, Osama bin Laden,” said Harman, “[Instead we] went into Iraq, and took our eye off the ball.”
Clark began his speech by emphasizing the importance of Virginia in the 2008 general election. “This is the battleground state,” exclaimed Clarke, “We could be the pivot of this election.” He expressed his support for Obama by saying that he was right for calling for a troop withdrawal timetable, an action that was opposed by the White House. “The Bush administration just agreed to a withdrawal timetable with the Iraqi government,” said Clarke.
Albright and Clarke both criticized Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain (R.-Ariz.) “I very much want to see a confident president, rather than a certain president,” said Albright. Richard Clarke questioned McCain’s judgment. “When McCain was singing about bombing Iran,” Clarke said, “Obama was suggesting that we use something called diplomacy first.”
Questions were briefly accepted from the audience as the event neared conclusion. When asked about Republican claims that Obama does not have the experience required to become President, Albright immediately replied “I’ll start by saying they are totally wrong.” She further explained that Obama is a person of incredible judgment and wisdom. “He knows the difference between the Sunnis and the Shias [in Iraq],” said Albright, adding “he has also served very well on the foreign relations committee.”
Immediate feedback from audience members after the speech concluded was varied. Ian Cook, a Vienna resident, said “I was more taken by Richard Clarke.” Cook also expressed criticism of Albright’s support of Obama, saying that the other panelists supported the Democratic presidential nominee more than she did.
Jim Pflieger, a Fairfax resident, was very pleased with Albright’s speech. “I wish I could’ve gotten a CD of [her] speech to use it to convert independents over to Obama… She had a very convincing argument.”
When Oscar Ramirez, the Virginia policy director for the Obama campaign, asked at the beginning of the event if there were any undecided voters in the audience, three hands were raised. By the conclusion of the event, one of those voters claimed to have decided to vote for Senator Obama.
by Noah Martin
Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State, U.S. Rep. Jane Harman and Richard Clarke, former chief counter-terrorism advisor to the U.S. National Security Counsel, will speak at the Foreign Policy Town Hall at George Mason University in Student Union Building I’s Patriot Lounge on Saturday at 7 p.m.. The speakers will address the foreign policy of the current administration and the topic of terrorism and counter-terrorism.
Albright was the 64th Secretary of State. She was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate and sworn into office on January 23, 1997 becoming the first woman to hold the position. Prior to her role as Secretary of State, Albright served as the United States’ Permanent Representative to the United Nations, a member of President Bill Clinton’s Cabinet and representative to the National Security Council.
Harmen has represented California’s 36th Congressional District since 1992. A seven term congresswoman, Ms. Harmen served for eight years on the House Intelligence Committee and is a recognized authority on issues of homeland security, counterterrorism, and intelligence.
Clarke has served in different capacities in the field of counter terrorism for the past four U.S. presidents. He served in the State Department for President Ronald Reagan, worked for President George H. W. Bush and served as the chief counter-terrorism advisor to the US National Security Counsel under Clinton, and President George W. Bush.
The event is sponsored by Students for Barack Obama and the Fairfax City Obama Campaign for Change and paid for by Campaign for Change, part of the Virginia Democratic Party.
Libertarian Presidential Candidate and former U.S. Representative Bob Barr spoke today in town hall format at George Mason University. An intimate crowd listened intently in Student Union Building I’s Patriot Lounge to hear Barr highlight the positives of a third party choice and the high level of dissatisfaction that many Americans hold for the current administration.
“[There is] complete disdain of American liberties,” said Barr, explaining his decision to leave the Republican party in 2006.
Barr said he believes he is a good alternative to Presidential Candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain because he has a plan to decrease “big government.” “If you’re for Republican big government then vote for John McCain, if you’re for Democrat big government, vote for Barack Obama,” said Barr, going so far as to say he would like to see the Department of Education dismantled.
Several audience members had the opportunity to interact with Barr when he opened the format for questions. The audience pressed him for specifics regarding his education platform, his plan to decrease government and his foreign and international policy strategy.
For more information about the event, follow Mason Votes on Twitter, Flicker and watch for our podcast interview with Barr, coming soon.
