Helen Lanzourakis, NEIU Graduate
President: “The final campaign, whoever comes up with the better speech is probably going to pick the economy for America.”
Gov. Rod Blagojevich: “He hasn’t done much for the great state of Illinois. My son is jobless because of him and I don’t have a great opinion of the man. My son is a lawyer for the State Attorney’s Office and they had to cut down, even though he’s been working there for many years. Instead of starting from the bottom, they started from the middle and a lot of people lost their jobs.”
Ariadna Carrion, Senior
President: “I think it depends on the personality…people make promises and sometimes they don’t go through with it and one party tends to be more serious than the other.”
Gov. Rod Blagojevich: “I’ve heard negative things about him, but personally I think he’s done a lot for health care, especially for children. I have two kids and the All Kids Program is great, so for me I think he’s done well.”
Allison Morales, Senior
President: “Probably the youth voting. If you look at the Democrats and Republicans in the previous elections, the Democrats usually appeal to the youth more because they have more charisma and the Republican Party usually nominates someone who is usually older. I think what happened last election was that not enough younger people went out to vote. I think that’s what Bush got re-elected.”
Gov. Rod Blagojevich: “He’s dirty, because Illinois has a billion dollar deficit, education sucks, and things haven’t really cleaned up since the time Ryan left the office.”
Cathy Luna, Senior
Gov. Rod Blagojevich: “He’s just there for show to fill in the spot. I really don’t think he does his job. I haven’t seen any changes, effort, or effort to change. I think he just fills the spot because he qualifies for it.”
Michael Rubinstein
President: “The economy and Middle East, probably more on the economy.”
Gov. Rod Blagojevich: “I don’t know much about him but he seems corrupt.”
Jonathan Barrera, Freshman
President: “I think McCain has more power because George Bush is backing him up and it’s also about influences, references, and connections, and those who have that will have a greater impact on who will win. Obama is African-American and has experienced what it’s like to grow up poor, so he knows how to relate to the people and listen to what they need. Ultimately, this election is about power versus reality.”
Gov. Rod Blagojevich: “I’m not connected with the work he’s done with Illinois, so I can’t say he’s done anything bad. However, I do know that I don’t like the fact that he doesn’t support gay marriage, and so that’s the one thing I don’t support about him.”
Francis Agbejimi, Senior
President: “On the Democratic side, you have Obama, an African-American candidate, and on the Republican side, you have Palin, representing the female candidate, so I think the entire election will be based on race and gender.”
Gov. Rod Blagojevich: “I don’t think he’s that great of a person. He’s not the best at balancing budgets, opening up programs for the underprivileged, handling real estate, and the closer rate is ridiculous.”
Loudes Sierra, Junior
President: “There’s multiple factors…policies, race, gender, and age. McCain made a smart move by affiliating with Palin and has a good health care policy as well as utilizing energy resources for the economy. Also, his age tells the people he’s more experienced and gains him more trust from the people.”
Gov. Rod Blagojevich: “He doesn’t do a good job at keeping promises.”
Erica Gutierrez, Sophomore
President: “The media…how they portray the candidates and what shows they appear on, and the people that are watching are going to be affected by it.”
Gov. Rod Blagojevich: “I’m indifferent.”
Nelly Martinez, Senior
President: “How to get the country out of the recession of the economy and have prices go back to where they used to be.”