With the first Democratic presidential primary debate of the 2008 election cycle a week away, Claflin University students got a chance to get up close and personal with the senior policy adviser for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Global warming, gun control and health care were a few issues about which students quizzed Leecia Eve in Corson Hall on Thursday. Eve addressed questions from students and others, including Orangeburg City Councilwoman Sandra Knotts.

One question involved where the New York Democrat stands on improving the health care system, including health disparities based on income and race.

“Those disparities will close, and they should close significantly because we will have people getting preventive care as opposed to having them go to the emergency room when they are severely ill. But beyond that, there are some diseases that affect us (African-Americans) more, and she’ll be getting universal health care while this gap in access to quality, affordable care remains,” Eve said.

“Sen. Clinton ... has cosponsored amendments to the federal budget that provide billions of dollars specifically targeted to providing more resources focused on minority communities like Latinos and Native Americans, who also have some discreet health care issues,” she said. Eve noted that Clinton has cosponsored legislation to prevent genetic discrimination.

In light of the Virginia Tech shootings, one man questioned Clinton’s stance on gun control.

“She feels very strongly about it. She believes in the Second Amendment and the right for folks to bear arms, but she also believes in strong and effective gun control. She has a strong belief that there should be very strong background checks,” Eve said.

“So if you have a significant criminal record and you haven’t gotten your certificate of release from disability that shows you’ve turned your life around, or you have mental health issues, you shouldn’t be able to purchase a gun. That’s a privilege, not a right,” she said. Eve said Clinton also favors having child safety locks placed on guns.

The upcoming April 26 Democratic presidential debate on the South Carolina State University campus will be an arena for all the viable candidates to display their platforms, Eve said.

“We have lots of really good people who are running for president, any one of whom, I think, would make a good president. I’m supporting Hillary because she not only shares my values, but the breadth and depth of her 35 years of experience from the time she worked with the Children’s Defense Fund ... to her time as first lady, where she’s helped fight for the establishment of the State Health Insurance Plan,” she said.

“And, then, her long record of service as a United States senator. ... She’s ahead of her time by more than a decade in talking about the need for universal health care and has persevered. She just introduced last month legislation to set up insurance for 9 million children who still don’t have health insurance in this country,” Eve said.

Knotts asked whether individuals would be able to personally e-mail questions to Clinton.

Eve said she would try to find out, but the campaign is currently developing a “theater” on Facebook, a social networking Website, where interested individuals can ask Clinton any questions they may have.

Eve took some time to also talk about the importance of voting. A former candidate for lieutenant governor of New York as well as a former counsel to Sen. Clinton, Eve is also founder and chairperson of SHOW UP New York.

SHOW UP New York is an organization focused on increasing the civic participation level among young people and people of color across New York state.

“I’m based in Washington, but I picked South Carolina as a state that I wanted to spend the most time in in terms of reaching out to young people and encouraging all of you to be engaged in the process,” Eve said.

“I hope you support Hillary for president, but I ... just also hope that you vote for somebody as opposed to not voting at all. So many of our ancestors risked so much ... to make sure that each and every one of us could register without fear and intimidation.

“People have different reasons for not being registered ... for not voting, but none of them, to me, warrant not exercising this right that people have sacrificed so much for us to have. If you don’t vote, you, in effect, will let somebody else make the choice for you,” she said.

She said it’s not enough to just register to vote, but it also involves the 20- to 30-minute act of actually going to the polls to cast your ballot.

“If you take a few minutes each week and collect the hours over the course of the TV season to vote for your favorite American idol, then you could spend half an hour voting for the person that will lead your state and country,” she said.

Eve, who earned a law degree from Harvard Law School and a master’s degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, said students should take full advantage of their education.

The Virginia Tech students who were killed by a gunmen on Monday won’t have that opportunity, Eve said.

With her voice cracking, she said, “Those students whose lives were cut short don’t have any opportunities anymore. So, on those days we don’t feel Iike doing all that much ... think about them. You have that opportunity. I just encourage you to take full advantage of it.”

“In addition to being registered and voting ... I just hope you’ll remain engaged in a general manner. Some of you who run for office in the future, that’s great. We need more people of color ... more women and men who share our values about the need to really improve the lives of all South Carolinians and those across the country,” she said, noting that differences could be made even outside the political arena.

“We need good doctors ... lawyers ... probation officers ... academicians .... We need good parents. If you are fortunate enough to not have to work outside the home and to focus on raising your children ... we need to do the best to raise the best, most productive children as we possibly can,” she said.

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