Lines of James Madison University students stretched across campus on Tuesday to hear Barack Obama deliver a broad appeal to young Virginia voters, who could make or break the Democratic presidential candidate in the Old Dominion.
The rally was both part of the Obama campaign’s offensive in traditionally red regions of the commonwealth, and an attempt to energize college students who make up a large part of Virginia’s new voter registrations this year. Obama told the crowd he was the first presidential nominee to visit Harrisonburg since Stephen Douglas, the Democratic candidate defeated by Abraham Lincoln in 1860.
“It’s been quite a while,” Obama said.
His speech centered on the economy, taxes and health care, promising to give a tax break to “95 percent of Americans who work every day and get taxes taken out of their paycheck every day.” He accused John McCain of promoting failed economic theories in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
“When it comes to the economy, when it comes to the central issue of this election, the plain truth is that John McCain has stood with George Bush every step of the way,” Obama said.
The Obama campaign is appealing relentlessly to Virginia’s 5 million voters to deliver the commonwealth for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time since 1964. About 40 percent of the more than 400,000 new registrants this year are under the age of 25, according to the State Board of Elections.
College towns like Williamsburg and Charlottesville have traditionally been Democratic strongholds in Virginia. But despite being the home of JMU, Harrisonburg fell in with much of the Shenandoah Valley in 2004 to support President Bush’s re-election.
On Tuesday, JMU officials said Obama drew out a crowd of more than 8,000 in the school’s Convocation Center and a spillover group outside of about 12,000 watching on screens nearby. According to the school, there are 17,964 students who attend classes at the Harrisonburg campus.
Among those inside the center was software engineer Brabbep Kini, who was ecstatic with Obama’s speech.
“We see today how vibrant he is, even in the last days of the election,” Kini said. “He’s still the same as the days he started, and I think that’s fantastic.”
University of Virginia student Andrew Wiseman was impressed by Obama’s overture to college students with so little time left until the Nov. 4 election.
“It was interesting so close to Election Day that he would come down here,” he said. “I thought that made a big difference … him coming to a college.”
