Hillary Clinton gets the opening question.

The crowd went crazy Thursday night as candidate Hillary Clinton took the stage possessing confidence and poise
between the other male presidential candidates at the CNN Democratic debate at UNLV.

CNN’s Campbell Brown opened the debate, asking why Clinton has not been taking a firm position on controversial topics.

Clinton said, ” I am aware that people say that, but I have been fighting for the American people for 35 years.”

This then struck up the debate between Clinton and rival Barack Obama. Obama shot back saying, “American people are looking for straight answers and it’s not what we have seen out of Senator Clinton.”

It was clear the debate had started!

A busy day for the UNLV Student Union

The Democratic Presidential Debate drew about 2,000 people to the  UNLV Cox Pavilion, but this was not the only crowded place on campus.

The UNLV Student Union’s second floor was filled with students, faculty and democratic parties. Each presidential candidate’s staff members occupied one room each making a total of seven rooms on the second floor full from 7:30 a.m. – 10:30 p.m. on Thursday night. The Student Union ballrooms and balcony were also occupied by the Presidential Caucus Watch Party.

The restaurants in the student union made more revenue then usual because of the traffic coming in and out during the day. When the debate was over, the union quickly cleared leaving only empty water bottles and food wrappers.

By 10 p.m. the building fell silent as if nothing had ever happened.

Red, White and Not You

For those of us who were (un)lucky enough to get into the UNLV Student Union watch party, there are no doubts that organizers’ intentions were good. There were tons of decorations, a free CNN hat on every chair, an awesome AV setup, complete with huge screens and there were even speakers outside the doors, where the food was, so you wouldn’t miss anything if you had to get a hot dog. And yes, the food. Enough for 600 people. Unfortunately, a little more than half that number showed up.

The real problem wasn’t the fact that there was only one bomb-sniffing dog on hand, not nearly enough K-9 for all those leftovers, but the fact that even when the debate was half over, and it was clear no one else was coming, if you weren’t on the list, you weren’t getting in.

Even Jeremiah McClain, who works for the Office of Information Technology on campus, whose office is literally 25 feet from the people guarding the entrance, was turned away. Never mind that he has worked at UNLV for 10 years, and was actually doing network support for the event that night.

So, what’s with this list anyway? Well, according to the person who turned McClain away, Amy Brooks of UNLV Community and Government Relations, 400 of the spots were given to the faculty, staff and students that didn’t win one of the 450 slots at the Cox Pavilion. The other 200 were reserved by Voto Latino, an organization who works to raise the number of Latino voters, and who actually paid for half the event.

It’s not that the organizers were bad people, it’s just that, according to Brooks, “there were 500 people who didn’t get anything and desperately wanted to go,” and, “we tried so hard to make it as fair as possible.”

From his office, looking out at the forbidden zone, McClain summed up the situation best when he said, “You would think that the debate’s been on for an hour or more now. What would be the problem with letting people in? You would think that they could let people in if it were obvious that there was room for people who wanted to participate. You sent out a bunch of invitations to people who aren’t interested, so why not have people who are interested?”

Student Blues (and Not the Red, White and Blues)

Isn’t it a bit ironic that as a student, I was led out of the doors of the student union last night? I drove a hectic 30 minutes in traffic last night, fought the parking chaos, ran to the union and then…slowly (and in a horrible mood) walked back to my car to leave.

CNN should’ve just taken the debate to the convention center.

Reactions to the Presidential Debate

The Democratic presidential debate came, debated, and conquered UNLV campus. Although the main event is over and students will be able to return to their favorite parking spaces Monday, the 50th year for UNLV is indeed a great anniversary, and we made history!

Numerous students and faculty members turned out and crowded the UNLV section at the debate, ready to hear the words of our possible future president.
The debate made many people gasp, choke and scream. Others, such as UNLV student Eileen Luna, said she felt very inspired by Hillary Clinton.

Luna said, “I think it is wonderful to finally have a woman run for president and have high potential of actually winning.”

Notice the U-N-L-V

We know you have a banner on our building, but notice the much larger sign to the right, it’s U-N-L-V! There were a lot of students disappointed with CNN this week.

CNN seemed to have marched right in and put limits on things that we as students should have rights to. To start the blog about the tours given to the public shows real disappointment from any of those without “the badge”. Secondly, since when is the student union not open to students? The second floor ballroom held the watch party last night and only those on a list or with the press could enter. The room was never filled, so they obviously could have allowed the students that were interested into the room. At least the outside looked inviting.

Hopefully the next time a news group invades the campus, they will take a more student friendly approach.

All photos By: Sonja Corliss

LAX After Party

LAX hosted an after party for all members of the press after the debate. Press credentials got you a VIP line pass and free drink.  LAX is one of the hottest new nightclubs at the Luxor in Las Vegas.
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Video From the Debate Watch Room

The watch room was for those who applied for the lottery but were not able to get a seat in the Cox Pavilion where the Democratic presidential debate was held.
According to some of the volunteers, they were expecting about 600 people. As this video shows, they had food for all those who were invited to join this watch room.
This video is about what it looked like inside while the debate was taking place.

The room was not as packed as it was expected; and even though people seem to be listening to the debate intently, I saw very few people visibly reacting to the actions on screen.

Video From Behind the Scenes in the Media Filing Room

So, I was finally able to go on the behind the scenes tour.

Click here to see video of the media filing room. This is where the members of the press that came into town for the debate watched the entire debate.

CNN offered snacks for reporters and free wireless Internet so that they could send their stories to the news organizations that sent them here to cover this event.

Media Spin Room

media members waiting around in the spin room
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