quarta-feira, setembro 29, 2004
'It's Cool To Hate Bush,' UM Student Says
University Of Miami Set To Host Presidential Debate
MIAMI -- President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry will arrive in South Florida today to get ready for Thursday's presidential debate at the University of Miami. And with the presidential election a little over a month away, one of the biggest voter registration campaigns is revving up... one that targets young voters one of the most untapped voting blocks.
On Thursday, the driving rainstorms seemed to push students closer to registration tables at the University of Miami. In the days before 2004's first presidential debate on the UM campus, 1700 students registered to vote in the upcoming election. Last year, no one seemed to care.
"I was a little discouraging because we put time and effort into it," said student registration drive coordinator, Pamela Schiess. "But this year we got on campus and we started with orientation and kids were bombarding us with questions about absentee ballots and how they can register."
Cable news took over from soap operas in the student union. And the political fever expanded to Edison High School where the C-SPAN school bus made a political stop. Miami-Dade College even opened its school year with a student registration campaign.
Back at the Coral Gables campus of the University of Miami, it was a case of dueling campaigns with the Kerry-Edwards student supporters were pushing for another one-term President Bush.
"Definitely the anti-Bush sentiments on campus are becoming the in thing, the hip thing. It's cool to hate Bush," one student said.
The Bush-Cheney campaign table on campus is doing its share of business as well.
"We are getting a lot of the people that haven't been involved before," said Sarah Canale, a Republican student. "I think they're Republican and are coming out and voicing their opinions and trying to get involved."
But the one that remains is whether the political excitement on the UM campus will continue after the presidential debate and November election.
As for the rules that were released regarding the debate, this morning NBC correspondent Brooke Hart reports that the networks say they will ignore the rule stating says cameras must train on person answering the question. The networks say they will decide where cameras point.
MIAMI -- President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry will arrive in South Florida today to get ready for Thursday's presidential debate at the University of Miami. And with the presidential election a little over a month away, one of the biggest voter registration campaigns is revving up... one that targets young voters one of the most untapped voting blocks.
On Thursday, the driving rainstorms seemed to push students closer to registration tables at the University of Miami. In the days before 2004's first presidential debate on the UM campus, 1700 students registered to vote in the upcoming election. Last year, no one seemed to care.
"I was a little discouraging because we put time and effort into it," said student registration drive coordinator, Pamela Schiess. "But this year we got on campus and we started with orientation and kids were bombarding us with questions about absentee ballots and how they can register."
Cable news took over from soap operas in the student union. And the political fever expanded to Edison High School where the C-SPAN school bus made a political stop. Miami-Dade College even opened its school year with a student registration campaign.
Back at the Coral Gables campus of the University of Miami, it was a case of dueling campaigns with the Kerry-Edwards student supporters were pushing for another one-term President Bush.
"Definitely the anti-Bush sentiments on campus are becoming the in thing, the hip thing. It's cool to hate Bush," one student said.
The Bush-Cheney campaign table on campus is doing its share of business as well.
"We are getting a lot of the people that haven't been involved before," said Sarah Canale, a Republican student. "I think they're Republican and are coming out and voicing their opinions and trying to get involved."
But the one that remains is whether the political excitement on the UM campus will continue after the presidential debate and November election.
As for the rules that were released regarding the debate, this morning NBC correspondent Brooke Hart reports that the networks say they will ignore the rule stating says cameras must train on person answering the question. The networks say they will decide where cameras point.
# posted by Rui Ferreira @ 10:09 da manhã 
