“I can’t even think of a caption at this point.”

By: Erin Smith

1/15/2020

The most difficult part of writing this blog post for me is trying to condense down these past five days into just one post. Should I write about the mesmerizing Elizabeth Warren rally? Or the Andrew Yang event we went to that also fell on his birthday? I could also write about Morgan Radford, an NBC news reporter, who took the time to have an insightful and unbelievably honest conversation with a group of around 30 strangers. These examples only begin to cover the spectacular experiences that I could base this post on. However, I have no choice but to write about attending the Democratic debate last night at Drake University. I feel like I need to give my attention to the debate because I have not even began to fully process the fact that I was actually there. 

Right before the debate started, I wanted to post a picture on Instagram of my classmate and I in front of the stage (casually showing off to my friends at home), but I could not think of a caption to fully articulate my feelings. Eventually, I realized the perfect caption was to simply put “I can’t even think of a caption at this point.” There have been very few times in my life that I have been at a loss for words, but last night was one of those times.

Along with two of my classmates, I was lucky enough to have been moved last minute to seats that were perfectly centered with the stage. I had an unobstructed and close-up view of the candidates and also a direct eyeline to the side of Wolf Blitzer’s head. The theater we were in, located at Drake University, was very small with limited seating. I felt like this allowed for a better connection with the candidates. In fact, my friend Kara and I were even able to get Vice President Joe Biden’s attention by profusely waving at him. He laughed and waved back when he saw us which lead us to freak out just a little bit. Also, we got two more waves/smiles from Anderson Cooper and an actual Disney princess, Mandy Moore. And this was all before the debate even started.

I was in absolute awe for the entire 5 hours I was in that theater. There were moments watching the candidates on stage, when I just had to sit back and try to take it all in. This debate was especially important to me because I got to see two intelligent, passionate, and confident women on stage as presidential candidates. Not only did Senator Klobuchar and Senator Warren hold a powerful presence among the majority of male candidates, but I feel like Elizabeth Warren won the whole debate. It was interesting to see the contrast between how she presented herself at her events and at the debate. Her rally was much more casual, energetic, and interactive than the focus and determination that she brought to the debate stage. I think in both of those situations she presented herself in a very approachable and presidential way. In the two times I have now seen her, I have learned just how passionate she is about what she is doing and how qualified she is to be president. At the debate, she was poised, unapologetic, and made some of the most impactful statements of the night. Her statement about the power that women candidates and women voters have to beat Trump caused a unified reaction of support from all of the women in the room; the energy was palpable. I will always remember that moment which even furthered my respect and admiration for her. 

I do not know if I will ever find the exact words to describe what last night meant to me, but I do know that I will never forget the way it felt to be in that room with hopefully the next president of the United States. I will be forever grateful to everyone who made last night happen– big shout out to Ken and Rich!