Student, alum explore Democratic Convention

While students may have been tuning into the Democratic National Convention this week, an Eastern student and graduate experienced President Bill Clinton’s speech first-hand and met with political leaders across the country.

Recent graduate Sarah Bigler went to the convention in Charlotte, N.C., arriving on Saturday, as a delegate for 15th Congressional district.

While Clare Smith, a senior history major, took part in the Washington Center’s internship program and arrived in Charlotte on Aug. 25, a week before the convention.

The Democratic National Convention took place Tuesday through Thursday with speakers such as Bill Clinton, First Lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama.

Bigler was elected during the primary in March when she was a student at Eastern.

Originally, Bigler said she believed she was appointed as delegate and did not realize it was an elected position. 

She remembers watching the election ticker at home during the Coles County election and said she will never forget the feeling when she realized she won. 

During Clinton’s speech, Bigler sat fourth row right next to her fellow Illinois delegates and described his speech as phenomenal and awe-inspiring. 

She also saw the teleprompter and could tell he was ad-libbing during his speech. He would make jokes and state statistics without even using the teleprompter, Bigler said. 

“It felt like (Clinton) was speaking to every individual,” she said.

His speech reminded Bigler why she wanted to stay in politics and reminded her of her first political memory—the election of Clinton in 1996 against Dole.

Like Bigler, Smith experienced Clinton’s speech and also described his speech as inspiring.

“Clinton is a reminder of a better time and represents the good years,” she said. “He reminds democrats that things will get better.”

Smith said Clinton’s speech emphasized how no one could fix the economy in only four years.

Political science professor Andrew McNitt said republican and democratic conventions give a good indication of a candidate’s platform for the election and who will be the key political players in the election.

Originally, conventions were used to pick a candidate, but have not been used to select a candidate for 20 or 30 years.

The main purposes of conventions now are to create unity in the party, introduce the candidate and energize the party, McNitt said.

Bigler said throughout the Democratic National Convention, the delegates were energized and ready for the upcoming election.

In the hallways of the convention building, Bigler said delegates greeted each other and stopped to talk to one another about politics.

“It feels like a big community of friends and family,” Bigler said. “We all share the same core beliefs.” 

So far, Bigler sat through the First Lady’s speech and Bill Clinton’s speech, and will be at President Obama’s speech. 

Unfortunately, Smith said she was not able to see Michelle Obama’s speech, but she plans to see the president’s speech.

In order to see the president’s speech, Smith said she had go through many obstacles because she had a community pass to see him at the Bank America Stadium, but the speech was moved to Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte.

The Time Warner Cable Arena does not have as may seats as the Bank America Stadium, which caused Smith to lose her seat, but luckily the coordinator at the Washington Center helped her get a pass.

Before the convention, Smith said she took classes, while this week she worked for the National Democratic Institute, which is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that promotes democracy internationally. 

During the convention, the group hosts an International Leadership Forum in conjunction with the convention.

The forum brought 300 international leaders, whom Smith got to meet, such as a prime minister from Zimbabwe.  

Smith said she also ran into Gov. Pat Quinn at the airport when she was picking up a diplomatic.

During the day Bigler got to participate in caucus and demographic meetings for youth and women. 

Like Smith, Bigler was able to meet Gov. Pat Quinn, caucuses leaders, representatives and union speakers during the day.

To Bigler’s excitement, she even got to meet and say hello to Anderson Cooper—an American journalist and television personality—whom she admires and described as perfect-looking.

Bigler was not the only student who was elected as delegate for the district, but the other two students, Tommy Zei and Desiree Dussard, did not attend. 

Unlike Bigler, Smith decided to attend the convention after seeing an email about the Washington Center’s Campaign 2012 program.

After missing the original deadline to apply, Smith said she went to the Honors College and helped get $4,000 in order to attend the convention. 

Thomas Spencer, the director of honors students and affairs, said the Honors College has programs that will help students like Smith study abroad and attend internships. 

Margaret Messer, the retired director of honors students and affairs, also helped Smith get a $500 scholarship from the Washington Center. 

Smith and Bigler both said the convention was one of the most eventful and exciting weeks of their lives and both look forward to the upcoming election.

Professor McNitt expects the election between Mitt Romney and Obama will be close because of the current Gallup polls show a very close margin.

The effect of the Republican and Democratic convention will not be known until the Gallup polls come out next week, McNitt said.

 

Elizabeth Edwards can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].