Brown and White Vol. 119 no. 15

              By JESSICA SZAFONI
The 2010 United States House of Representatives election will be held today, halfway through the president’s first term in office.
Pennsylvania has 19 seats in the U.S. House of Represen­tatives. Members of the 15th congressional district will vote between Republican incumbent Charlie Dent, Democrat Beth­lehem Mayor John Callahan and Independent Jake Towne. Republicans are slightly favored in the 2010 House projections.
Dent is a current member of the House, serving the 15th district in Pennsylvania since taking office in 2005.
He attracts the public by the masses, gaining support from groups such as the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, including more than 50,000 rural families.
Dent believes in the significant impact the federal govern­ment can have. He has supported efforts to lower the cost of higher education and accommodate low-income families through federal acts, such as No Child Left Behind Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
He was highly opposed to the federal stimulus program and supported a plan claimed to have been able to provide jobs at a lower cost. He was also an original cosponsor of the legisla­tion to simplify the tax code. Dent feels the 2010 Fiscal Year budget was not created in the country’s best interest, according to Dent’s website.
Callahan, on the other hand, sells himself as a family man and integral part of his hometown, Bethlehem. He says he is focused on the interest of the community, not pleasing corpora­tions. His campaign includes a “Main Street vs. Wall Street” argument.
Callahan, elected mayor of Bethlehem in 2003 for the first time, holds much support from the working men and women of the Lehigh Valley. Support and platforms can be found at Callahanforcongress.com.
He is fighting to prevent big corporations from outsourcing jobs that could be held in the U.S. and trying to gain tax credit for small companies. He also hopes to prevent companies from setting up tax havens in foreign countries, so they have to pay American taxes.
Callahan aims to prevent the bureaucracy that holds small businesses back and accommodate the small towns in the 15th district. He is in strong support of the teaching programs in Washington, but hopes to stop applying one type of mandate to all sorts of school. By rewarding teachers and schools, he hopes to attract better teachers and programs to the area.
A primary issue Callahan intends to address and improve is public safety in all areas. He currently runs a task force in Beth­lehem that utilizes “block watches” to monitor designated areas
Students weigh in on political landscape
See ELECTION Page 3
Vol. 119 No. 15
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
‘All the Lehigh News First’
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LIFESTYLE
By NICOLE SCHWARTZ
The Lehigh Valley Steel Battalion’s ROTC placed third in their brigade and third in their division in the annual Ranger Challenge compe­tition during the weekend of Oct. 22.
“Ultimately, it’s a leadership development competition that pits teams consisting of students from each university against one another in a test of physical, mental and psychological stam­ina,” said Captain Jonathan Lum, who helped train the cadets. “The events are encompassing everything that a cadet learns in four years while in ROTC.”
The team, consisting of 10 cadets, seven of which were from Lehigh, traveled to Camp Smith in Peekskill, N.Y., to compete against 40 other schools across the Northeast in its brigade.
Regulations required at least one female on the team and cadets representing all age groups.
Members included Marc Bisher, MS4, cap­tain from DeSales University; Sean Camperson, ’11, MS4; Laura Eull, ’10, MS4; Matt Yosua, ’12, MS3; Ben Rosen, ’12, MS3; Christian Bryan, ’13, MS2; Jacob Howell, ’14, MS1; Harrison Clark, ’14, MS1; Curtis Alban, MS3, from Kutz­town University; and Tim Anzovino, MS3, from DeSales University. Jeff Holinaty, ’14, MS1, was the team’s substitute.
The group trained intensely for nine weeks at the start of the semester.
“We trained Monday through Friday and al­most every Saturday,” Yosua said.
The practices started at 5:30 a.m. and lasted until 7 a.m.
Not only was practice for the purpose of physical strengthening, but also to master the many events at Ranger Challenge, such as building a rope bridge and evaluating medical situations.
See ROTC Page 4
ROTC excels in annual competition
Clinton implores citizens to vote in critical election
By LIZ MARTINEZ
Thousands can boast that they spent their lunch hour on Thursday at Northampton Community College’s main campus with former president Bill Clinton, as he stopped by the Le­high Valley to support gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato and Bethle­hem Mayor John Callahan in his run for representative of Pennsylvania’s 15th district.
However, adding Clinton to the mix days before today’s election was more than a glitzy public appearance; it was a strategy to get the much-needed vote out as democrats battle a brutal midterm election that will be decided today.
With republicans keeping a tight rein on the future political landscape, inviting Clinton, who out of every U.S. president since World War II garnered the highest approval rating after his two terms, was a cry for help.
“All of this thing is wasted if all you do is clap for me,” he said. “This is all about who shows up to vote.”
It was evident Clinton not only un­derstands the precarious nature of this election, but also how it will influence the presidential ballot in 2012 and, consequently, the fate of his party.
“This is a battleground for how America will look like,” he said.
He imparted some political history by explaining that this bipartisan war­fare did not always exist.
“For 30 years, they’ve been telling us the problems here are the fault of the government,” he said.
Before, there was significant co­operation and construction between both parties, he said, but for the last three decades politics was a “battle of ideas.”
The former president struck at the heart of the disaccord: the state of the economy.
“We’ve got to build a modern 21st century economy,” Clinton said. “Not one that plays Russian roulette.”
Callahan echoed Clinton’s state­ment saying it was opponent Charlie Dent’s “failed economic policies that
See RALLY Page 3
B&W photo by MATT BREITEL
Former President Bill Clinton posed with Mayor John Callahan and gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato on Thursday at Northampton Community College, where he discussed the importance of today’s election.
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