Former President Clinton Triples College Speaking Schedule as Hillary Campaigns

Bloomberg News: Clinton Triples College Speaking Schedule as Hillary Campaigns
By Matthew Keenan

April 18 (Bloomberg) -- Former President Bill Clinton, one of the most coveted and elusive commencement speakers at U.S. colleges, spurns dozens of invitations each year.

This spring, he's stepping up his schedule as his wife, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, runs for the office he once held. He will triple his recent annual average and talk to graduates on six campuses, led by Harvard University and the University of New Hampshire, the biggest school in the state that hosts the nation's first presidential primary.

"Whenever he's in the news, she's in the news,'' said Dean Spiliotes, 43, research director at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester. "It's a good thing for her.''...

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A USA Today/Gallup poll last month showed 70 percent of Americans say Clinton will have a positive effect on his wife's candidacy. A month earlier, the same pollsters found 63 percent had a favorable opinion of him. Clinton has hosted fund-raising events such as one on March 21 in Washington that collected $2.7 million, helping Hillary Clinton raise $26 million in the first quarter this year.

"Bill Clinton is just remarkably popular now,'' said Karlyn Bowman, 59, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington.

Clinton earned $7.5 million for speaking 43 times in 2005, an average of $174,419 a speech, to audiences including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., according to disclosure forms Hillary Clinton filed with the Senate. Graduation speeches are customarily given free of charge.

"Ex-presidents have about as much visibility as you can have, and Bill Clinton, being a damn good speaker, brings a double whammy,'' for colleges, said Carlton Sedgeley, 67, president of New York speakers' agency Royce Carlton Inc....

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=abPaaJi51iHA

<Democratic Senator Barack Obama and former New York City Republican mayor Rudolph Giuliani lead as the presidential nominees for their respective parties among 18 to 24 year-olds, the Institute of Politics (IOP) reported in a poll released yesterday.

The IOP poll found that Democratic youngsters, unlike the rest of their party, support Obama—the junior Democratic senator from Illinois—over New York Senator Hillary Clinton.

Among the Democrats’ youngest voters, Obama leads Clinton 35 to 28 percent... >

<...The survey, in its twelfth year, reflects Obama’s widespread popularity on campuses, IOP Polling Director John Della Volpe said.>

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=518315

From what I've seen & heard, young people are flocking behind Obama. I hope it translates into more of them actually voting.

but, as I college student myself I know that Hillary and Edwards are also very popular. For example, out of the four people who live in my apartment, three of us are for Hillary and the other person is trying to decide between Hillary and Obama.

I also know that Bill Clinton is hugely popular among college students (although a lot of my perception of that could have to do with the fact that I go to his alma mater), but when he gives speeches he generally doesn't mention Hillary (I've heard that this is because every time he appears at a campaign event for her, the campaign has to pay for his security detail, which I read can cost $200,000 per event. If he mentions her at a speech, it could be construed as a campaign event, and then the campaign would have to pay for it.)

"Of those polled by the IOP, 42 percent said they would “definitely” vote in a primary or caucus, 61 percent said they would “definitely” vote in the general election, and three-quarters said they were registered to vote. "

Considering that 2004 was a banner year for Democratic voter turnout and they were lucky to crack 30% of eligible voters participating in any given state AND that participation for 18 to 24 in the 2004 election didn't crack 20%, I sense some students are not being honest.

they may very well intend to, but part of the problem for college students is that many of them go to school away from home and so they need absentee ballots. A lot of kids don't realize this until the last minute, when it's too late to register for one.

Its one of those poll questions where the answers tend to be more of what the person is expected to say vs. a preference.

So while I doubt the turnout boasts, I find the preferences credible.

Voter turn out in presidential years is always around 50%. 2004 was no different. I think the 30% would be closer tothe 2006 election, but I think even then it was higher than 30%. I'll have to run down the numbers.

The youth turnout for the general election in 2004 didn't crack 20%

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html