College Dems. gather to watch debate

While most Penn students were focused on staying warm in the New England-like winter yesterday, the Penn College Democrats had politics on their minds for much of last night. Thirteen students gathered in the Quadrangle's Community House lounge to watch the final debate before the New Hampshire primary between Vice President Al Gore and former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, the two Democratic presidential candidates. The debate, televised on CNN, allowed the two candidates to discuss issues ranging from taxation of Internet commerce to welfare reform to campaign advertisements. For the College Democrats, the viewing party is but one of many events in an "ongoing effort to bring supporters together," according to the group's vice president and treasurer Christy Gressman, a College sophomore. Throughout the debate, the students reacted with occasional laugher to the candidates' comments and sporadically debated among themselves. "Both of the candidates taught me aspects about the other that I didn't know before," said College freshman Arshad Hasan. College freshman Aaron Short, another student in attendance, said Gore and Bradley were "more civil than candidates have been in the past," while College junior Erin Murphy said she felt "the candidates agreed so much" that they were often left to "debating intricacies of their platforms." The debate, which was frequently cordial, saw both candidates attack each other's plans for universal health care reform as well as for using negative advertising. Besides similar debate viewing parties in the future and this afternoon's student-led presidential primary debate, the College Democrats plan to participate in and initiate events in an attempt to "create awareness on campus," said Beth Harkavy, a College junior and the group's community outreach chair. The group's next viewing party will take place on Tuesday night at Civic House. The organization acts as what Harkavy called an "umbrella" for the Gore and Bradley camps. Gressman added that it is part of the group's policy to stay "officially away from one candidate" in order to avoid "divisiveness" within the group. College sophomore Matthew Oresman, a co-chair for the Bradley campaign on campus, said he personally feels that Bradley support on campus seems to have strengthened. To show their belief in Bradley, 40 students from various Philadelphia colleges -- including a group from Penn -- will head to New Hampshire for the primary this weekend. Gressman sees the trip as "a grass-roots campaign" to raise political awareness. Oresman, who will represent Bradley in this afternoon's student debate, said he hopes that the group can help alleviate what he calls "voter apathy" at the University. Though he said he strongly supports Bradley and believes he "has a very good shot at the presidency."