Hitting the trail for good ol' dad

Rebecca Lieberman was just like every other student in her Penn Law School class of 1997. She stressed over the rigorous Ivy League Law school curriculum, made her way between classes and a comfortable Center City apartment and even had a couple of favorites among Penn's many neighborhood food trucks. But today, three years after her Penn Law days came to a close, Lieberman's priorities are far from those of most of her former classmates. Instead of winning her cases or moving up in the ranks of her firm, her present goal is very simple: to help her father become the next vice president of the United States. Lieberman, the daughter of Connecticut senator and Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joseph Lieberman, visited Philadelphia yesterday for a series of events designed to foster political discussion and drum up support for the Gore-Lieberman presidential ticket. Her first stop was a roundtable discussion on general politics with a group of students at the Community College of Philadelphia. Afterwards, she made her way back to her old campus and spoke at a Democratic women's group function at the Annenberg Center's Zellerbach Theatre. "We're doing these discussions because there really has been something of a mutual neglect between politicians and young people and we want to break through that," said Lieberman, who has been visiting several states in recent weeks on behalf of the Democratic ticket. For about 30 minutes, Lieberman held court with a group of 15 Community College students, discussing such topics as voter registration, police brutality and higher education financing. And while the tone of the discussion was rather sedate and welcoming by political standards, there was no mistaking the very partisan approach Lieberman brought to the table. "Things are sometimes difficult when one party controls the White House and another controls the Congress," Lieberman told the group when the discussion shifted to government gridlock. "It makes it difficult for the Democrats to get anything done." For the students selected by the Community College administration to participate in the discussion, the chance to discuss relevant issues with a young person so close to the presidential campaign was a significant opportunity. "I truly believe that there's a barrier between young people and politics," 26-year-old Kareem Strong said. "Young people can't relate to a lot of the issues, and politics is filled with a lot of jargon that an 18-year-old just can't understand." Following the discussion, the 26-year-old Lieberman paused to look back at the three years she spent wearing the Red and Blue. "I made wonderful friends at Penn and I had some great professors," she said. "Law school is a notoriously difficult experience, but Penn is a non-competitive place and that was terrific." Lieberman was also careful to note the little things that made her Penn Law experience so terrific. "I have a special place in my heart for the vegetarian meatballs from the Magic Carpet food truck," she said. "And I used to hang out all the time at the Ritz Theater downtown, going to two shows a day sometimes." For the one Penn student in attendance at Lieberman's afternoon discussion, the opportunity to discuss major issues with a candidate's daughter was very helpful. "It was a good free-flowing discussion," Democratic volunteer and College freshman Abraham Dyk said. "It became a lot more than them just asking her questions, and that was great because it allowed her to know a lot about how they feel." After her appearance at the Community College, Lieberman addressed a crowd of Democratic supporters at Penn at "Every Woman Counts!" The event was organized by the Five County Democratic Women's Coalition to support the cause of women in government and at the ballot box.

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