{"id":16038,"date":"2012-09-12T16:18:51","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T20:18:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=16038"},"modified":"2021-09-10T13:56:30","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T17:56:30","slug":"vice-president-joe-biden-draws-crowd-at-wright-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2012\/09\/12\/vice-president-joe-biden-draws-crowd-at-wright-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Vice President Joe Biden draws crowd"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Biden’s speech touched on jobs, the auto industry, the military and the challenge of financing a college education.<\/p><\/div>\n

American flags plastered to the walls. A young boy riding the shoulders of his father. An array of television cameras splayed on risers. Even comedian Dave Chappelle bobbing through the crowd in sunglasses.<\/p>\n

These were the sights of Wright State University\u2019s Student Union on Sept. 12 when Vice President Joe Biden made a campaign stop, attracting about 500 people for a political pep rally.<\/p>\n

Hours earlier, a line stretched out the front entrance of the Student Union as people attending the rally crept through metal detectors.<\/p>\n

Kelsey Pohl, a 19-year-old musical theatre major from Detroit, called the rally \u201ca great opportunity.\u201d She and a friend had been in class a few days earlier when they heard that tickets were being distributed on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were dying to get out, and we couldn\u2019t; we were staring at the clock,\u201d she said. \u201cWe ran over to get tickets and there were 20 left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pohl said the rally was a chance for her to become more educated about politics.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

One Wright State student said the rally was a chance for her to become more educated about politics.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI find a lot of people my age don\u2019t actually know what\u2019s going on; they think they do, but they don\u2019t,\u201d Pohl said. \u201cI want to hear as many people as I can whenever I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the crowd began to swell inside the Student Union Apollo Room, sound technicians fed the festive atmosphere by launching a musical playlist featuring U2, Florence and the Machine, James Taylor, Wilco, Sugarland and Arcade Fire.<\/p>\n

Those who spoke at the rally included Luis Luiggi, a Wright State student and Navy Reservist from Huber Heights who spent a year deployed in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks to the G.I. Bill, I was able to attend Wright State to study history and become a teacher,\u201d Luiggi told the crowd.<\/p>\n

Biden arrived at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base at noon and motorcaded over to the university.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to be here at Wright State,\u201d said Biden, drawing a roar from the crowd.<\/p>\n

During his speech, Biden condemned the recent attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that left the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans dead. Biden also touched on jobs, the auto industry, the military and the challenge of financing a college education.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Biden’s campaign stop drew a crowd to the the Apollo Room in Wright State’s Student Union.<\/p><\/div>\n

Biden\u2019s 35-minute speech was sprinkled with references to Ohio and Wright State. But in the crowd\u2019s opinion he fell one reference short.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those of you struggling to send your kids to school, to college, or to keep your kid in college, in community college, or Wayne State University, or any college in America\u2026,\u201d Biden began.<\/p>\n

The crowd believed he had meant to say Wright State and shouted that out to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWright State,\u201d Biden replied. \u201cIt also includes Wayne State.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following his speech, Biden waded into the crowd to shake hands.<\/p>\n

Luiggi said the rally was energizing for Wright State students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what percent of the population we are,\u201d he said, \u201cbut we could actually get on the streets and change people\u2019s votes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Biden made a campaign stop, attracting about 500 people. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":16039,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[729,725,727,715,719,720],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-campus","category-home-news-sidebar","category-homepage-photos-and-video","category-news","category-special-categories","category-video"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16038"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112091,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16038\/revisions\/112091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}