Voters "have to drain the swamp that is Washington, D.C.," Nancy Pelosi told a crowd in Logan Hall's Terrace Room.
The Republican Congress has made a mess of everything from Iraq to education, but the Democrats can clean it up, Pelosi (D-Calif.), the U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader, announced to students Friday morning at a rally on Penn's campus.
Pelosi, Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) and candidate Lois Murphy spoke to a crowd which Penn Democrats president Nathaniel Hake estimated at over 175 students. They addressed the importance of the upcoming November elections and urged the students to take action.
Murphy is running to unseat Republican Jim Gerlach in a district in the city's suburbs.
Pelosi, Schwartz and Murphy discussed a wide range of issues, from the war in Iraq to global warming. Pelosi was especially critical of the current administration's handling of the conflict in Iraq, saying that "the war is not making us safer," and that it "has become the cause celebre of the jihadist movement around the world."
Schwartz described Pelosi, the keynote speaker at the event, as a uniting force in the party.
"She's brought us together, helped us find common ground," Schwartz said in an interview.
Playing to the college audience, the politicians also alluded to the party's desire to make college education more affordable.
"We want you to leave college guided by dreams, not waded down by debts," Pelosi said.
The event was part of the Penn Democrats' larger efforts to help their party win back the House in the upcoming mid-term elections.
The Democrats need to win 15 seats in the House this November to achieve a majority.
Wharton sophomore Clayton Robinson, events director for the Penn Democrats, said that the student organization has a goal of knocking on 15,000 doors in Philadelphia and its suburbs to help the Democrats' efforts, a goal for which all three politicians expressed support.
"I'm not saying you shouldn't study," Schwartz joked. "Take the time to volunteer out of your sleep time."
