'Voters hold the key'

Voters need to embrace the issues facing the 2008 election because it's important to be informed and for candidates to communicate effectively with U.S. citizens, two political leaders said Thursday.

Harold E. Ford Jr., chair of the National Democratic Leadership Council, addressed issues facing the 2008 presidential election like the economy, health care, the war in Iraq and energy. Michael Steele, Republican group GOPAC chairman and former Maryland lieutenant governor, joined him in the discussion.

Steele said voters hold the key in the November election, which has been called a historical moment because of the variety of candidates and their backgrounds.

"You are being empowered in a way citizens have not been empowered in the past," Steele said. "It is an important statement about where America is and where America is headed."

Both Steele and Ford spoke to about 1,000 community members, college students and elected officials as part of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin's John Ben Shepperd Public Leadership Institute Distinguished Lecture Series.

In the fall, the Institute welcomed Karl Rove, President George W. Bush's former chief of staff.

Each speaker Thursday night touched on how issues like national security, energy, the war in Iraq and education drive the focus of the presidential election.

Ford said no matter who becomes president in 2008 the country's "posture" in Iraq would change with any candidate - whether the winner is Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., or Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

But change is always an element in any political election, he said.

Both discussed how the election process has stretched this year, and Ford said he found the process this year to be beneficial. He said he couldn't recall a time when more states have weighed in on the Democratic Party elections.

He cited the Texas, Pennsylvania and Ohio primaries as examples of states that didn't get much Democratic "play" in years past.

Steele said the election process has been too long, and he hoped it wouldn't start a trend where presidential elections start even earlier.

"I don't need two years to decide the next president," he said.

Each candidate brings a certain element to the election process, Steele said, from McCain's Vietnam War experiences as a POW to Clinton's time as first lady and her own political and personal "struggles" to Obama's representation of where this country's come in the past 400 years in race relations.

Both said the candidates will have to define how they'd change the country on particular issues in November, and the public should hold them to their answers.

Ford said the election will be interesting if Clinton carries the remaining states prior to the Democratic convention or if Obama takes North Carolina.

Ford said he doesn't look at the candidates for their races, their ages or genders but evaluates them on the issues. He challenged audience members to name three things about the candidate they want as president.

"If you can't name three reasons you're supporting your candidate, then shame on you," he said.

UTPB business freshman Eugene Abbey, who sat in the audience, said he learned much about the process and that his vote and support for a candidate counts and should be thought out.

"It should be for a good reason," he said after the speech.

Ford said during the speech that this election process spurs people into the polling places and into discussions about the issues.

"It makes them think," Ford said. "It makes them ponder, and hopefully it will lead them to cast a vote."