Going to a presidential campaign rally for either party is always a memorable experience. You’ll leave with a stronger impression of the candidate, for better or for worse. This past Wednesday, I was lucky enough to be one of the 20,000 people present for Hillary Clinton’s rally at ASU’s Tempe campus.
This rally was especially important, as it signified how the 2016 election is the first in 20 years where a Democrat has been able to run competitively in the traditionally red state of Arizona. The purpose of the rally was to encourage young college students, the Millennials the Clinton campaign so desperately needs, to get enthusiastic about the campaign. That enthusiasm, the Clinton campaign hopes, will encourage young voters to register and vote early since many of us may not be able to take the time to stand in long lines to vote on Election Day, Tuesday, November 8th.
The line to get onto the Fitness Center field, where Hillary Clinton's rally was to be held, was far too long - it snaked around the building for over two hours. During that wait, there was plenty of time to talk to Clinton supporters, to undecided voters who were just interested in hearing what the candidate had to say, and - of course - to the Hillary Clinton protesters. These protesters (or Trump supporters) yelled out campaign slogans like, "Make America Great Again," and carried signs featuring provocative slogans, like “Blue Lives Matter." It was a parade of citizens exercising their First Amendment rights for both sides, as well as for Green Party issues like, “Water is Life: Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline." They screamed from start to finish of the rally, making it hard for someone towards the back of the crowd like myself to hear the speech.
I got inside the borders of the rally at around 5:30, a solid hour before the 6:30 start time. 6:30 came and went, as did 7:30. Still no sign of HRC. 8:00 rolls by, and I look over to see a squadron of 10 blacked-out limousines pull up, just like they do in the movies. Soon after, Hillary finally took the stage under the giant blue “Stronger Together” banner, much to everyone’s delight. She started off her speech graciously, by thanking all of the speakers who stalled at the podium for her arrival. Then she began addressing the content of her speech by describing the kind of dark, dystopian country we would be living in with Trump as president: “Imagine having a president who demeans women, mocks the disabled, insults Latinos, African-Americans, Muslims, POWs, who pits people against each other, instead of pulling us together." She could barely finish her statement without being overpowered by the sound of thousands of deafening boos.
Following her anti-Trump thought exercise, Hillary went on to dig into his questionable decision making by mentioning a name that you may or may not be familiar with: Sherriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio, or, as most people know him, Sherriff Joe, is the person whom Trump has come to to help enforce his immigration policies. Clinton made sure to explain to the listeners that Sherriff Joe had been charged with criminal contempt the week before, due to supposed racial profiling. She went on to state how a combination of Arpaio and Trump would be catastrophic for the future of immigration to The United States of America, a nation that was founded on immigration.
She made sure to also highlight Trump’s deficiencies when it comes to recognizing the situations that many African-Americans deal with throughout our country. "Imagine having a president who thinks all the lives of black people are crime and poverty and despair," she said. "He has no idea about the strength of the black church, the vibrancy of black businesses, the excellence of historically black colleges and universities, the success of black leaders in every field.". That really brought the crowd to life, as if they weren’t already.
Clinton went on to address a wide range of topics that affect the average American on a daily basis. But of all the topics she covered, none got quite the same response as the ones that targeted young Americans like the students at ASU. The place went ballistic as she discussed the changes that would be made to the minimum wage, and college tuition. When she said: "If you're having a hard time paying for college, we're going to make tuition at public colleges and universities like this one free for millions and millions of families" the place erupted with all sorts of cheers and screams.
Hillary concluded her speech by stressing the message of the banner behind her, “Stronger Together.” Clinton wanted to highlight just how important it was that the young voter population stood by her in a critical state like Arizona, so she harped on the fact that this election should have the highest voter turnout in history. According to the Pew Research Center, an estimated 69.2 million Millennials (adults ages 18-35 in 2016) were voting age U.S. Citizens - a number almost equal to the 69.7 million Baby Boomers (ages 52-70) in the nation's electorate. Her final statement resonated strongly: “This is one of those make-or-break moments for the United States, and it’s in your hands.”
Overall, I was very glad that I decided to attend this rally. I left with a sweet Bill Clinton “first dude” pin, and the memory of seeing a potential president (and the first potential female president at that) for the very first time. As a first-time voter who wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about my choices for this election before attending this rally, I can safely say that I learned a lot on Wednesday night.
