Student group raises awareness for their candidate
As Super Tuesday approaches, students are fervently campaigning for their chosen candidates.
When Nick Passanante returned from working on Sen. Hillary Clinton’s winning campaign for the Jan. 8 primary in New Hampshire, he said that he expected to see a huge surge of support at CU for her.
In fact, he saw very little.
But the junior political science major said he decided to change that.
“When I got back from New Hampshire, there was a huge void of support,” Passanante said. “So I wanted to make a group to fill that void.”
Passanante created the CU chapter of the national organization Hillblazers, which supports Clinton for the Democratic presidential nominee. The group was named an official student group just this semester.
Students in favor of Clinton started Hillblazers in 2007 at Clinton’s alma mater, Wellesley College. There are over two hundred campus chapters of the group today.
Passanante hopes that the group will help spread the word to the broader Boulder community and get the vote out. The group has held rallies on Pearl Street and has been at events such as the “Meet the Candidates” debate on Jan. 28. It also holds tables in the UMC to gain support. In the past week, Passanante said the list of supporters has grown by 80 new names.
The CU Hillblazers have also started what they coined the “Honk and Wave.”
During early rush hour, the group stands at the intersection of Baseline and Broadway holding signs urging motorists to “honk and wave” for Clinton. Passanante said the group has more visibility events planned for the days before Super Tuesday.
“She is the only candidate I trust,” Passanante said about Clinton. “She has made change in the past, and will continue to in office. It’s not just rhetoric, it’s action behind the words.”
Other students had mixed feelings about Clinton for president.
“I think that she wouldn’t be all that bad for our government because look at what Bill Clinton did,” Whitney Anyanwu, a sophomore English major, said. “She had more to deal with in that situation. I think she would do a good job.”
Federica Rabiolo, a freshman open-option major, said that she feels Clinton is overly hostile and not completely honest.
“She is the one attacking Obama,” Rabiolo said. “When I watched the debate, it’s usually her attacking him. What is he to do?”
Passanante said he is expecting a huge voter turnout from CU students next Tuesday for the caucus.
“CU has always been a great campus of activism, on all levels,” he said.
Contact Campus Press staff writer Marcy Franklin at marcy.franklin@colorado.edu
