Clinton draws a crowd for Dems

An overflow crowd packed the ballroom of the Queens College Student Union building recently for a “get-out-the-vote” rally organized by Congressmember Anthony Weiner - for a chance to see and hear former President Bill Clinton.
Hundreds had to be turned away after waiting on a line that snaked into the darkness for the rally on the Flushing campus, slated to start at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 23.
As the audience filled every available seat and lined the walls, they warmly greeted speeches by Weiner, Assemblymember Rory Lancman, who represents the district which includes the school, and other elected Democrats.
City Councilmember David Weprin and James Gennaro addressed the group with an update of the council’s vote earlier in the day to extend term limits for city offices, and used the opportunity to criticize Mayor Bloomberg and call upon listeners to get their friends and families to vote, as well as vote themselves.
All of the speechifying was merely prelude to the evening’s main event - Clinton’s tumultuous reception, which came shortly before 9 p.m.
In his address, lasting nearly 45 minutes, Clinton recounted the beginnings of his own presidential campaign, and recalled that the Queens organization was the first in New York to endorse his candidacy.
Clinton enumerated reasons why it was important to vote, not surprisingly endorsing Democrat Barack Obama over Republican John McCain for the highest office in the land.
He went on to support Weiner, and stress to the crowd the importance of electing Democrats “down the ballot,” specifically addressing the races for the State Senate, where Republicans hold a razor-thin, two-vote majority.
Clinton made a point of endorsing Howard Beach Councilmember Joseph Addabbo in his bid to unseat Senator Serphin Maltese, as well as supporting Gennaro’s campaign against incumbent Senator Frank Padavan, for the senate seat which includes the Queens College campus.
Neither witnessed their endorsement however. Addabbo, campaigning in his South Queens district did not attend and Gennaro, who is viewed as having the more formidable opponent in Padavan, left after addressing the crowd, to attend other events.
However, Clinton was not the only national figure to come to Queens to support local candidates. Recently, on the other side of the borough, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who himself was a Republican contender for president this year, came to Middle Village to campaign for Maltese.
Giuliani spent time dancing with senior citizen women and telling everyone why it was important to support Maltese in his reelection battle as well as Republican presidential nominee John McCain.
After wowing the crowd at Queens College, Clinton exited and then returned for an encore appearance for autographs, with the crowd surging forward to get his signature on posters, pictures, textbooks or whatever was handy.
Long after the former Chief Executive departed, more than a hundred lingered in the afterglow of the experience, some showing off their prized Clinton memorabilia.