The Fox Leadership Program's "Take Back the Vote" conference suffered an unexpected setback yesterday due to the cancellation of Sen. John Kerry's (D-Mass.) campaign representative -- and stepson -- Chris Heinz. Heinz was scheduled to participate in a public debate in Houston Hall against Wharton senior David Copley, Pennsylvania Students for Bush state chairman.
Heinz was replaced at the last minute by Capt. Patrick Murphy, a former paratrooper in the Army's 82nd Airborne Division and a member of the Kerry-Edwards campaign in Philadelphia.
The conference featured the debate and series of panels, all of which dealt with issues surrounding youth voting.
"I hope people will get inspired and sign up, volunteer and get into an argument maybe," said Jane Eisner, the event's organizer and author of Taking Back the Vote.
The conference opened with the debate. Each representative was given around 15 minutes to argue why his candidate was best qualified to lead the United States. They then fielded questions from the approximately 150 audience members.
Copley kicked off the debate by declaring that only President George W. Bush has what it takes to win the war on terror and revive the economy.
He energetically endorsed the president for re-election while at the same time attacking Kerry's record in Congress, accusing Kerry of inconsistent positions on issues and denouncing him as the "most liberal senator" on three separate occasions.
Murphy began by calling on both camps to "leave Vietnam behind." He asserted that "President Bush has lost credibility in the world as a leader," and that John Kerry must be elected in order to galvanize the international community to help rebuild Iraq.
He went on to reject the idea that the American occupation of Iraq is part of the wider war on terror, insisting instead that Iraq has prevented U.S. forces from achieving their objectives in Afghanistan.
The second portion of the conference featured a panel discussion entitled, "What's Working to Mobilize College Voters?"
"Has anyone seen that T-shirt from Urban Outfitters?" asked Ivan Frishberg, communications director for the New Voters Project and a panelist. "It says, "Voting is for old people.'" The panelists said they have been working this year to squash that stereotype.
Jaime Uzeta, Rock the Vote representative for MTV's "Choose or Lose" campaign, expects to "deliver 20 million young people to the polls on Election Day."
With MTV's multimedia messages, Uzeta's organization aims to eliminate the "pessimism about the power of the youth vote" and to "cover topics of concern" for young people. He noted MTV's use of Drew Barrymore's documentary on young voters as a tool "Choose or Lose" uses to recruit voters.
Frishberg expressed concern over non-voters, because "voting and not voting are habitual behaviors."
To encourage participation, his organization focuses on "grass-roots" and "peer-to-peer" communication, which "increases the likelihood that a person will vote."
He predicts that this approach will have a significant impact on Nov. 2's voter turnout.
Alexis McGill, executive director of Citizen Change and a panelist, said she focuses on turning "the hip hop generation" into concerned and active voters.
She recounted the efforts of hip hop cultural icons, such as Russell Simmons and P. Diddy, who helped establish hip hop community interest in politics.
National Campaign for Political and Civic Engagement Director Jennifer Phillips also presented her organization's efforts to mobilize young people.
College freshman Laura Paine said she found the panel "really good, something I enjoyed. We have more of an effect than many think that we do."
College freshman Colleen Donovan said that it was "good to see that there is an opportunity to get involved and make an impact on the political scene."
Other events in the conference included a panel discussion on "Why Are Youth Volunteering But Not Voting?" and "What Can Congress Do For You?"
