AGNES PIETRYKA-MASNIK writes:
While returning from Bettendorf, Iowa, covering Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign for president, I kept thinking of a joke my dad saw on Oprah that he has repeated a few times as we would ride the train together to downtown Chicago discussing politics this past semester.
Not to call my dad out...you have to understand his sense of humor.
On Oprah, former President Bill Clinton joked that should Hillary Clinton be elected president of the United States, then his Scottish friends say he should be called "First Laddie."
My dad would crack-up saying "First Laddie."
If Hillary Clinton were elected, that would mean four more years of Clintons in the White House. For some, it's a concern; for others, they believe it's time for a woman to be elected president.
Breanne Kaminski, a 19-year-old college student at Scott Community College and first-time caucus-goer said, "I am voting for Hillary. I like the fact that she is a woman. This first time I vote, I want to be able to say I voted for the first female president."
Kaminski maintained her support for Clinton even though her father caucused for Illinois Senator Barack Obama, who won with 38 percent over Clinton's third-place finish of 29 percent. Former Senator John Edwards was second, just slightly ahead of Clinton.
"We need her experience and wisdom; we need someone to land in the White House running," said Priscilla Cavanagh, a 79- year-old, lifelong resident of Davenport, who had planned to caucus for Clinton.
"I want to be the first one in the family that votes in a female president," said Cavanagh. "I know that she will win the nomination."
Becky Cook, a 56-year-old Bettendorf resident, thinks Clinton will do the right thing for the country: "My mom is 85 years old, and during her lifetime, women have gotten the right to vote...It's time we have a woman president." (The 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920, giving women the right to vote).
"I really want to see what a woman can do in the White House," said Matthew Henderson, a 28-year-old from Bettendorf who caucused with his mother, Susan Henderson.
Susan Henderson said, "If she does as good of job as her husband does, she will be a great president." Henderson said Clinton's stance on health care and insurance for the unemployed is most important.
On Wednesday, at Clinton's last stop in Scott County before the January 3 caucuses, Randy Trevarthen, a DeWitt union laborer, said Clinton has a lot of good ideas of bringing jobs back to the United States and preventing them from moving out of the country. "She's an amazing woman," said Trevarthen.
America will have to wait and see who will be this year's Democratic nominee for president.
In the meantime, I will have to come up with a good joke for my dad.
Agnes Pietryka-Masnik is a graduate student in journalism from the Chicago area.
