Congressman visits ISU

Casting an election ballot for the first time was a rewarding experience for sophomore exercise science major Asia Smith. "It feels good to know that the world can change because of us," Smith said.

Moments earlier, she had joined other first-time voters marching to the satellite voting center at Cunningham Memorial Library from Wolf Field, where U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-Evansville) encouraged students to do their civic duty at a Get Out the Vote Rally.

"We can't afford until Election Day to cast our vote," Ellsworth said.

He said that he has "never seen a time when the country faces the things that it does today" and that young people are inheriting those issues.

"You all are taking it over," Ellsworth said. "And you can start taking it over as we speak."

He also mentioned some hot-button issues - including the economy - and waxed nostalgic about the size of his tuition bill when he attended ISU's satellite campus in Evansville.

"When I [wrote] that check for a semester's worth of classes, it was about $329 a semester for my tuition," Ellsworth said.

Ellsworth quoted Martin Luther King Jr., who once said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter. The ultimate measure of a man is not how he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy."

"Ladies and gentlemen, this moment, this time, this day, we are in that time of challenge and controversy," Ellsworth said. "We can't afford to have you sit this one out."

The role of a politician can only go so far, he noted. Before Ellsworth took the stage, freshman music education major Matt Swingler sang "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Marcel Oliveira, president of the ISU College Democrats, then encouraged students to give Ellsworth a second term and elect Sen. Barack Obama to the Oval Office.

Oliveira called this election "the most important election of our lifetime."

SGA President Michael Scott Jr. introduced Ellsworth and said that his organization has been registering voters in record numbers.

"We know this election is going to be close, and every vote counts," Scott said.

At the conclusion of Ellsworth's remarks, students flanked campaign signs and began marching to the library.

Ellsworth thinks politicians should do more to reach out to young voters, but that it is going to take the work of both parties.

In exchange, he said, young people must let their representatives know where they stand on the issues.

Other events are planned in the closing days of the election, Oliveira said.

The ISU College Democrats will walk with Ellsworth and other local Democrats in Saturday's Homecoming Parade and representatives from Obama's campaign will be on campus sometime next week.

( Nick Hedrick is a freshman communication major. He can be reached at sascamed@isugw.indstate.edu.)