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Jenna and Barbara Bush thank young voters for support
First daughters Jenna and Barbara Bush paid a visit to the University of Maine yesterday morning to speak at a Students for Bush rally. Their visit marked the completion of a political checklist for having the entire first family campaign in the swing state of Maine this month.
Jenna Bush took the stage before her sister and began by saying how happy the two were to be back in Maine – a state she said is “not our home, but very close.”
“There’s a lot of energy in this state to re-elect our dad, so that makes us very excited,” Jenna said.
Jenna launched into the first of several personal family anecdotes early on in her speech. This one recalled their mother Laura’s conditions regarding the highly political family for marrying their father.
“She made him promise no political speeches,” she said. “But we know she secretly loves being on the campaign trail.”
Barbara mentioned the huge responses First Lady Laura Bush gets when speaking at various political events, namely on the “W Stands for Women” tour.
“It’s a little bit like having a rock star for a mom,” Barbara said. “Except she goes to bed at 9:30.”
Jenna touted qualities she saw in her dad that made him not just a good dad, but a good president as well.
“My dad has shown us the importance of leading a disciplined life,” she said.
Jenna went on to describe a particular incident that stood out in her mind as a testament to her dad’s strong character.
Some of her favorite activities growing up were trips to the ballpark in order to see the Texas Rangers play. She recalled one day when the temperature had reached 108 degrees and she was the only member of her family “crazy enough” to accompany her father to the field.
She remembered pleading with her father to leave the game before the end due to the intense heat. She even went as far as trying to humiliate him in hopes that he would want to leave. But not even wrapping herself like a mummy in wet paper towels could convince her father to leave the game early.
“My dad always supports his team until the last inning,” she said. “Dad can take the heat.”
Barbara and Jenna commended the roughly 150 young voters gathered in the Woolley room of DTAV for being the driving force to effect change in their generation.
“We hear all the time that young people aren’t interested in politics,” Barbara said. “The fact is young Americans do care. We care about the child being left behind. We care about the neighbor dealing with an addiction.
“The most important thing you can do for our dad is vote,” she said.
The twins have been on the campaign trail for weeks now and will soon be joining their parents, President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, for the final month preceding the election, according to Susan Whitson, deputy communications director for the Bush-Cheney campaign.
While in New England, the girls also visited a hospital in Exeter, N.H. with their grandmother, Barbara Bush, where they worked to increase awareness about the presidents advancements to Medicare, namely for women’s health issues, according to Whitson.
Last week the girls spoke at campuses in Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin, continuing on to Bates College after their stop in Orono.
“They’re working really hard,” Whitson said. “They’ve been splitting their time between college brainstorming and the ‘W Stands for Women’ trail.”
Intimate engagements like the one the girls made at UMaine are more for getting a chance to thank volunteers, campaign staff and supporters for all their hard work, Whitson said.
“This is something they really wanted to do,” she said.
John Mitchell, chair of the UMaine College Republicans, said this was something he really wanted also.
“It’s very exciting … an excellent opportunity for us to have them here,” Mitchell said. “Student voters are the most under-represented demographic in the voting process.”
Mitchell described the process of finalizing the Bush twin’s visit to UMaine a huge logistical process, mainly on his part.
“It was a huge effort but it was a great experience,” he said.
The event was kept small to minimize disturbances by oppositioners and no formal advertising or notifications were sent out, not even to the College Republicans’ folder on FirstClass.
Only 99 people were included the mailing list of a personal e-mail obtained by The Maine Campus, sent by Mitchell about 12 hours before the event began.
About 170 people made the list of invitees, according to Mitchell, and about 150 showed up to attend the event.
“It was pretty much word-of-mouth and phone calls,” Mitchell said.
Ross Bartlett, vice president of financial affairs for Student Government, was among those included on Mitchell’s mailing list.
Bartlett arrived early to make certain he was front and center for the event and said that while he didn’t think the two said anything substantive, he thought it was an excellent morale-boosting event.
“Seeing members of the first family is always exciting for people and it encourages them to think about the election,” Bartlett said.
Michell’s hope for a peaceful and disturbance-free event seemed to be granted, as only one anti-Bush demonstrator could be seen outside of DTAV.
First-year student Seth Yentis said he heard of the event only ten minutes before it was scheduled to begin.
Short notice didn’t stop Yentis from scrawling “Bush Lies” on a piece of poster board and standing outside DTAV during the speeches.
“I just figure that it needs to be shown that there is dissent,” Yentis said. “I need to use my freedom of speech as much as possible.”
Kerry’s stepson encourages voters to set the bar higher
Another wave of political persuasion hit Maine on Tuesday when Chris Heinz, stepson of presidential candidate John Kerry, visited the University of Maine. On a tour of several college campuses across Maine, Heinz focused on critical issues in this year’s election and urged the students to be “vigilant about protecting their right to vote.”
“The reality is that this is going to be a close race. You [students] have to believe that you have the capacity to vote,” Heinz said. “Obviously I’m a fan of John Kerry for president, but it is important to make sure you vote no matter who it is. Express yourself.”
Heinz stressed the importance of getting everyone involved in this year’s election, no matter age or nationality. Heinz pointed out that international students and 16-year-olds can make a difference too.
“If you get a person to vote who wouldn’t be going to the polls unless you had persuaded them, you have effectively voted yourself,” he said.
Heinz hit home for many students with Kerry’s $10 billion plan to help make college accessible and affordable to everyone.
According to John Kerry’s Web site: “… the price of college has risen by 35 percent over the last three years, 220,000 qualified young people were priced out of college last year.”
“Kerry plans to offer a $4,000 tax credit for every child that is in college,” Heinz said. “In addition, after working two years in the community the, federal government will pay for all four years of college. It’s like a GI bill but you won’t get shot at … The overall point is to encourage service and keep people in local communities to build stronger bridges. We want people to know that if they work hard they can succeed.”
The plan would be paid for by eliminating the subsidized and guaranteed profits for banks making student loans, according to Kerry’s Web site. Heinz compared the cost of Kerry’s education plan to have a “stronger society” to the $ 4-10 billion that President Bush is spending in Iraq every month.
Touching on a more personal note, Heinz talked about his relationship with Kerry. In 1991, Chris Heinz’s father, Sen. John Heinz, died in a plane crash. Four years later Chris’s mother Theresa and John Kerry were married.
“I was eighteen when my father died and I didn’t believe I needed a step-dad. Then Kerry came into our family. He is a great partner for my mom. He didn’t push his ideas and traditions on us and he continued to be a great dad to his own kids. He has been an amazing step-dad and we share respect, friendship and love.” Heinz said.
Heinz was also asked by an audience member to compare how his mother would take on the role of First Lady. He said his mother would take her job seriously and not sit back.
“Mom is a pistol,” Heinz confessed.
Heinz also touched upon the war in Iraq and compared President Bush’s military record with John Kerry’s.
“Young people are dying. I believe people in this room want peace. Who’s the peace maker, Kerry or Bush? Kerry went to war, he’s knows what it’s like. His opponent didn’t go to war. He worked very hard not to go. ”
“Somebody mentioned to me, and I agree the president sees our country like a parent sees a 10-year-old child. The president has been patronizing the country and the world. We have never been so hated as we have been these past two years,” Heinz said.
Heinz said that President Bush needs to be fired because of his incompetence, broken promises, internal dividing of America and disregard for the line between church and state.
“We need to set the bar higher for the president. Bush can stumble through words like ‘nuclear’ but still have his finger on the button at the same time. That scares me.” Heinz said.
Heinz ended the discussion after fielding a question on reproductive issues.
“[An abortion] is a hard decision for any woman to make. That’s not the issue. The issue is whether you would assert yourself on someone else’s rights by voting ‘no’ on pro-choice.”
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