Hillary Clinton, who is trying to win the Democratic presidential nomination, will speak at Houston Hall on Monday, her campaign announced today.

She will give what the campaign calls a “major policy address” in the Hall of Flags at 10 a.m. Further details on the speech weren’t initially available.

Clinton’s stop on campus makes her the final member of the Clinton family to visit Penn over the past few weeks. Chelsea Clinton campaigned at Wynn Commons on March 5, and Bill Clinton delivered the opening address at the Kerner Plus 40 symposium in Irvine Auditorium on Feb. 28.

The Penn Dems might have endorsed Clinton’s opponent, Barack Obama, but the Clinton family is definitely trying to make Hillary’s campaign known on campus.

It’s getting more and more crowded here at Temple University’s McGonigle Hall in the time leading up to the start. One side of the bleachers now is almost full of people, all of course carrying Hillary signs. The media pen has been full, with more reporters from more different places than I imagined even possible.

Everyone and their mother is on this story I suppose. Earlier I had thought there would be no wireless connection here, but someone has set up a network, aptly named “SoapBox.”

The “enclosure” I guess I could call it, the cordoned off area closest to the stage is full of middle aged people in IUPAT shirts. It stands for International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. There are some other union shirts around, and the crowd is distinctly not college aged. Lots of “ordinary folk,” parents with little kids, etc. There’s pre rally music of course. I don’t recognize it, and two Temple sophomores also performed for a while.

Once again, I have to comment on the timing. The fact that they put this rally here over spring break means to me that the Hillary campaign really is not making a huge effort to attract college students. To them Temple is just a convenient location.

One interesting metric for me is to count the number of home made signs versus campaign passed out signs. Right now I’ve seen three homemade signs. The rally hasn’t started yet, so that will likely grow.

Edit: 5:55pm

I know I’m just a lowly student journalist but this is the most cameras and video camera I’ve ever seen together in one place. And it’s a whole different feeling sitting on the other side of the tensa barrier. But it also makes you wonder at how much duplicated effort there is here. All of these cameras are essentially going to get the same shot because they’re all set up on the same platform.

Edit: 6:49pm

Clinton just told one of those little stories about healthcare about a woman with two diabetic daughters who couldn’t get insurance. Followed it up with this little tidbit. “We are not going to allow health insurance companies to discriminate against sick people!”

Edit: March 12th, 1:30pm

Video is now on our homepage, www.dailypennsylvanian.com

Direct link here.

So after spending hours on Columbia’s campus, talking to students, roaming College Walk, and checking out the polling stations in Wein Hall, we had yet to see any substantial proof on campus that Hillary’s campaign actually exists here. After spending time talking to students, voters, and poll workers in Wein Hall, we saw someone wearing a Hillary button!

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So far, we’ve seen phonebanking, posters, stickers, and a table for Obama. But where are the Students for Hillary? Where have they been all day?

At the polls, I spoke to Mollie Stein, a Barnard sophomore who had been campaigning for Hillary earlier today. She acknowledged the lack of visibility on campus, saying “there hasn’t been that much for Hillary — but just from talking to people, a lot of them are voting for her.” Stein said that from what she has seen, the election in New York “seems like it could go either way,” though she hopes Hillary wins because “she needs to win New York.”

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