BY JACQUELINE SMALL

In print | Published November 4, 2010

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell spoke to a small group of students in Science Center 101 on Monday afternoon.

He urged students to vote for the Democratic candidates in Tuesday’s midterm elections, focusing primarily on Bryan Lentz, who ran for U.S. Congress in the 7th district; Mike Farrell, who ran for state senate in the 26th district, and Walt Waite, who ran for State Representative in the 161st district. Farrell, Waite and Lentz all attended the rally, as did Rick Lowe, the mayor of Swarthmore and Maurice Eldridge ’61, vice president for community and college relations.

The rally started at 3:40 p.m., 40 minutes later than planned, because the governor had been busy campaigning at various places throughout the day and had gotten behind schedule.

He spoke for approximately 25 minutes, followed by a brief speech by Lentz. Natalie Litton, president of the College Democrats, opened the rally by introducing Rendell.

“As you know tomorrow is Election Day, and the only poll that really matters is the one that’s taken on Election Day when we get up and get out and vote,” Rendell said.

He believed the election was much closer than the polls were showing. “I have sensed a much stronger democratic turnout than the polls are predicting,” he said. Rendell explained that in his campaigning, he has seen members of the Latino, African American and gay communities “fired up” to vote Democratic.

Rendell went on to discuss the strides that the Democratic party has made in social improvements. He cited the Lily Ledbetter bill, which ensures equal pay for men and women, the credit card bills reform and children’s health care. He said that although financial reform on Wall Street is still imperfect, the changes that are being made will prevent a second economic crash.

“We’ve done a good job, we’ve moved the country forward in some very important areas. We deserve to be reelected. The tenor of the campaign Tea Partiers have waged disqualifies them … They’re trying to divide us, when our strength has always been our diversity,” Rendell said.

Lentz spoke quickly, after Rendell’s speech, and urged the importance of voting in this election. “The key is that we can make a difference all the way up the ladder. This is the center of the universe in the 2010 election,” he said.

« RETURN TO NEWS

« PREV ARTICLE | NEXT ARTICLE »