Could this year’s presidential election be influenced by a missed handshake with a university president?
It’s perhaps not that serious, but nevertheless some hard feelings may be lingering from the logistics of a speech Tuesday at Pennsylvania State University by the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin.
Pennsylvania is a key battleground in the presidential race, with both campaigns making repeated visits there in the final days before next Tuesday’s election to try to win the state’s 21 electoral votes. Penn State is Pennsylvania’s largest university, with 40,000 students and a quarter-million alumni in the state.
The issue at Penn State began, according to ABC News, when university security officers called officials with John McCain’s campaign to make arrangements for Penn State’s president, Graham B. Spanier, to greet Ms. Palin privately just before her address to a crowd of some 7,500 supporters Tuesday evening at the university’s Rec Hall.
Administrators in Mr. Spanier’s office say that a McCain campaign aide, Russ Bermel, telephoned them to question the idea, saying that Mr. Spanier is “a big Democrat” who probably wouldn’t want to meet with Ms. Palin, ABC reported. Penn State administrators later discussed the matter and decided to withdraw the greeting request as a way “to defuse the awkwardness,” the university officials told ABC.
A McCain spokesman, Brian Rogers, told ABC there was no intent to prevent Mr. Spanier from greeting Ms. Palin, saying, “If there was some miscommunication, that’s regrettable.” Campaign officials said they would not make Mr. Bermel available for comment, ABC reported.
The speech by Ms. Palin itself was open only to supporters chosen by the McCain campaign. The university billed the campaign $8,000 for using the hall, as it makes its facilities available free of charge only when all members of the public are invited to attend. Former President Bill Clinton spoke Wednesday at Penn State, backing Barack Obama, at an event that was open to all who wanted to attend.
