Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz rallied University of Florida students today to register to vote, downplaying the impact of last week’s debate on the presidential race.
Wasserman Shultz poses with UF students.
Her appearance came as volunteers for the Obama campaign swarmed campus registering students on the last day to do so in Florida. After speaking to those volunteers about the election, Wasserman Schultz said she wasn’t worried that last week’s debate had reinvigorated Mitt Romney’s campaign.
“We’re not focused on polls, we’re not focused on performances, which is what that was,” she said. “What Mitt Romney did last Wednesday night is attempted to reinvent himself, to run from positions he’s taken for 18 months. We’re not going to let him get away with that.”
Wasserman Schultz, a U.S. representative from the Fort Lauderdale area, has deep UF ties. She earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UF and was active in student government while there.
She insisted that students from UF and other colleges retained the enthusiasm for President Barack Obama that they had in the 2008 campaign. Students make up a major portion of the campaign’s volunteers, she said, while events such as first lady Michelle Obama’s speech at UF last month show continued excitement on campuses.
“The enthusiasm among our nation’s youth and college students is pretty intense,” she said.
UPDATE: More on this story can be found here.
