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Sen. Joe Biden returned to his alma mater today to address thousands of university students and community members on the North Green and ask for their help in his campaign.
"It's good to be home," he said after walking through the doors of Memorial Hall and descending down the steps onto a stage.
Biden, who graduated from the university in 1965, came to encourage students to travel to Pennsylvania, a battleground state in the election, to campaign for the Barack Obama - Joe Biden ticket.
"We need you," he said. "We need you badly. Your nation needs you."
Paul Ruiz, president of UD for Obama and College Democrats, said preliminary numbers released by the campaign indicate approximately 5,700 people attended the rally. Students who agreed to volunteer received priority seating, and 60 of those were allowed to stand behind Biden as he spoke.
Ruiz said he was pleased with student support of the rally.
"UD is not really an apathetic campus," he said. "The students really do care."
Biden urged students to sign up for trips to Pennsylvania to participate in get-out-the-vote activities.
"Every single morning between now and Election Day, buses will leave this campus and leave from Wilmington to help our cause in Pennsylvania," Biden said.
Ruiz said 277 university students have committed to going to Pennsylvania and many of those signed up at the rally. However, all of those volunteers will be focused on Election Day, Ruiz said.
There will not be buses leaving the university for the Keystone State in the days leading up to the election, Ruiz said.
Biden spent much of his 20-minute speech reminiscing about his time at the university. He said his experiences on campus - as well as the world events that occurred during the time - have shaped the rest of his life.
"It was here in October 1962 that literally as many of us as could squeeze into a place we used to call the Scrounge listened and watched on black and white television as John F. Kennedy warned us of the impending crisis with Russia over Cuba," Biden said. "One year and one month later, I was standing on the steps of Hullihen Hall when I heard of John Kennedy's death."
He also recalled late-night debates with friends in Harter Hall - he lived in a corner room on the fourth floor but does not remember the room number - about the Vietnam War and other hot topics.
Biden credited his professors at the university with instilling in him a sense of civic duty.
"They not only believed in me, they believed we each have something to contribute to the public debate - they convinced my generation of that," he said. "And my message to all of you students here today is you have a great deal to contribute. We need you badly to contribute to the public discourse in this country."
Biden noted the significant role the university has played in the 2008 election. David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, left the university one semester short of graduating in 1988. Steve Schmidt, Sen. John McCain's campaign manager, left the university in 1993, just three credits short of graduating.
"Blue Hens can go astray," he said, referring to Schmidt. "But I'm proud that this great university has instilled that kind of intensity in its graduates and in its students."
Biden said President George W. Bush has squandered the opportunities he had to improve the country, and he is running for vice president to change what the past administration has done.
"We are on the cusp of a new era of American leadership in the 21st century," he said.
Biden said McCain would keep the country divided from the rest of the world, while Obama would change the way America is seen in the rest of the world.
"Imagine an America that once again is respected in the world as a powerful example, not just an example of what is powerful," he said.
Biden called for an end of the War in Iraq, more renewable energy and a rebuilding of the country's infrastructure.
He drew some of the most applause when he talked about making college affordable to more students.
"Imagine a country where everyone who is qualified to go to college can afford to go and graduate without being tens of thousands of dollars in debt," he said.
Biden was introduced by his wife, Jill, who is also an alumna of the university. He was also joined by several other family members, including his 91-year-old mother.
Before Biden spoke, university President Patrick Harker, state treasurer Jack Markell and Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) addressed the crowd.
Students began arriving on the Green before 7 a.m. At one point the line to enter the security area stretched almost to Delaware Avenue.
Harker, who cut short his trip to China in order to attend the rally, said afterwards he was proud to have Biden as a university alumnus.
"This university is in the middle of this election and it shows the strength of the education here and the networks that get built," Harker said.
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