After a crazy day of ticket sales and preparation for Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Athens, Ohio University’s College Democrats gathered together to watch and celebrate President Barack Obama’s nomination speech Thursday night.
According to Sam Ribeiro, a fall fellow for Obama for America and member of OU College Democrats, the members had a feeling something big was going to happen in the days prior to Biden’s official announcement of his Athens visit.
“Our main goal is to get the word out as much as possible as soon as we found out something like this was happening,” Ribeiro said. “The past few days have shown us how excited students and faculty really are for (seeing the vice president) and the election.”
Students and faculty seemed to have caught on to the excitement as tickets ran out in Baker University Center and wait lists were created for those hoping to attend the event.
Officials could not confirm how many tickets were available for
the event.
Caitlin Roberts, fall fellow with the Obama campaign and the vice president of OU College Democrats, said she is excited about the event and the president’s nomination speech honoring the chance to hear from the president himself.
OU’s College Republicans are also getting involved in the presidential campaign by encouraging student participation and distributing information.
“I’d encourage anyone looking to get involved to come to our meetings,” said Dylan Gustafson, communications chair of OU College Republicans.
“Right now, we are focusing on our meetings and making phone calls out to the people."
In addition, a tour bus from Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign made a stop outside Bentley Hall Wednesday evening to host a meeting for some members of the OU College Republicans.
The bus was already in Southeast Ohio, said Ryan Dilworth, a senior studying aviation management and president of OU College Republicans.
“We just brought (the bus) down to get everybody fired up,” Dilworth said.
Though the group is considering an event in response to Biden’s visit Saturday, Gustafson said the group also considers this event to be an exciting opportunity.
“Obviously, having the vice president of United States come is a great opportunity and a big deal in Athens, no matter which party he is from,” Gustafson said.
— Brian Vadakin contributed to this story.
lf328610@ohiou.edu
