Obama Calls Granite State Students

On the eve of his trip to New Hampshire, college students throughout the Granite State participated in a conference call with Senator Barack Obama. A group of students at Saint Anselm College took part in the call, in a study room at Geisel Library. While waiting for Obama, the group chatted about upcoming events and why they favored Obama. One student said he was supporting Obama because "he's a once in a lifetime candidate." The students agreed that Obama was a "JFK or RFK type figure."

Before taking questions from students, Obama told callers that the Virginia Tech shooting was a tragedy and is "something hard to explain, not sure it could have been prevented." The Illinois Senator urged the students to deal with "preventable tragedies." Obama also told his supporters that students have the chance to "transform the country," while also being at the "center of change."

Barack Obama then took questions from Boston College and UNLV-Reno. In response to the BC question, Obama said that the United States must pursue a policy in which it "thinks before acting." While, UNLV-Reno asked about health insurance for recently graduated college students. Senator Obama said that to help ease the burden on students he has proposed a policy in which people would buy into a pool system. Obama ended the call by telling the students that they have a "huge opportunity to transform the nation."