Penn students get into campaign swing; pledge support for their candidates

With CNN calling the New Hampshire primary race "too close to call" until late last night, about 20 excited supporters of Bill Bradley gathered around a small television in Civic House last night with high hopes for their candidate. Yet the combined enthusiasm of these students could not help Bradley surpass Vice President Al Gore to take the New Hampshire victory. Gore won 52 percent of the vote while Bradley received 47, leaving supporters of the former Princeton basketball star and New Jersey senator disappointed but still hopeful for success in upcoming primaries. Also last night, Arizona Senator John McCain defeated Texas Governor George W. Bush by 18 percentage points, with McCain capturing 49 percent of New Hampshire's voters and Bush garnering only 31 percent. For College junior Michael Bassik, co-founder of Penn for Gore, yesterday's primary reconfirmed his belief in his candidate. "It's fantastic that Al Gore was able to prove to the people of New Hampshire that he was a worthy candidate, especially noting that his was a come-from-behind victory," Bassik said. "This victory goes to show that Gore is the candidate that can win the nomination," Bassik added. But for the student Bradley supporters who watched the primary results at Civic House, last night's primary was a letdown. "It was frustrating to watch," College senior Ben Schein said. "The whole polling process with the media predicting the outcome before you know was very frustrating." However, Schein, a member of Bill Bradley for President at Penn, said the results do not mean Bradley is out of the running for the Democratic nomination. "It's a minor setback. New Hampshire would have helped a lot, but you can't close his coffin," Schein said. Calling Gore the "heir to the Clinton economy," Matthew Oresman, chair of Bill Bradley for President at Penn, attributed Gore's victory to his role in the Clinton administration and the mild media furor caused by Bradley's recent heart problems. The Bradley group followed CNN's result updates throughout the evening. When the results of the first precincts reported that Gore was leading over Bradley, shouts and boos echoed throughout the living room. "I'm trying to think optimistically," College junior Beth Harkavy said when approximately 20 percent of the calculated vote showed Bradley 10 points behind Gore. While Bradley was not able to pull off last night's victory, his supporters at Penn say they will continue to work toward securing Bradley's victory in future primaries. According to Oresman, the several hundred students in the Bradley group will spend the next month gearing up for the March 7 New York primary instead of focusing on yesterday's loss. "Bill Clinton shows you don't have to win the primaries to win the presidency," he said, noting that Clinton came in second in New Hampshire in 1992. Oresman, a College sophomore, said the group would definitely be sending students to New York to do "whatever the campaign needs us to do." And Bassik said that he, too, would be up in New York to help out Gore's campaign. Last weekend, over 35 students from the Bradley group traveled together to New Hampshire to volunteer for the Bradley campaign. Ten Gore supporters from Penn also headed north to help get out the vote in New Hampshire. Once they arrived in New Hampshire, the Bradley volunteers were dispersed throughout the New England state with some working in Bradley's Manchester campaign headquarters and others being sent to smaller rural towns. "We just had information about Bradley," said Harkavy, a Bradley group member who worked for the campaign last weekend. "We knocked on doors to tell people about Bradley, find out what they thought of him and encourage them to come out and vote in the primary," Harkavy said about her weekend in New Hampshire. For College freshman Arshad Hasan, who was also able to go to New Hampshire, the weekend proved to be more than an opportunity to support his presidential candidate of choice. "I always believed that there was a point to get involved," he explained. "This experience showed me why and reinforced that thinking."

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