Erskine Bowles holds second rally on UNCG campus

With Election Day only a few days away, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from North Carolina Erskine Bowles visited the campus for a second time. On Wednesday, October 27 after forty-five minutes of anticipation, Bowles arrived to a room of standing supporters and those interested in learning of the candidates position before going to the polls. Henry Frye, former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court was first to speak of the candidate. He showed his support and aided in establishing the credibility of Bowles with the audience by referring to Bowles' experience as head of the Small Business Administration. According to Frye, Bowles was responsible for streamlining the process for getting SBA loans. "As president of Greensboro National Bank, we made SBA loans. And as a lawyer, I prepared applications for SBA so I can see the difference he made there," said Frye. Following Frye's short speech was Bishop Battle, a supporter and religious colleague of Bowles. In introducing Bowles, Battle opened up with saying that there was only on label you can put on Bowles and that is he's a good man. The audience then applauded. Battle went on to say that Bowles was a fair man and had known him for a long time. "I can attest the fact that when he talks about after-school programs that he's not just going to talk about it, he's going to put money towards it," stated Battle. Later on in his introduction, Battle gave four reasons as to why he believes Bowles will become senator of North Carolina. His reasons were that Bowles loves N.C., he comes out of pocket for health care, is not running for himself, and he and his wife support after-school programs. Applause was interjected repeatedly during this run-down. The most applause followed Battle's statement, "I don't want Dick Cheney to swear him in." Amongst heavy applause, Bowles takes the podium with the closing of Battle's introduction. Bowles open with says that he is going to be the next seat for the next six years and that with the debate against Ballantine, people could see how much he cared. He proceeded in telling the audience that it's not a recovery when you don't have a job and that he is scared to death of outsourcing. "If we don't make smart investments in kids to attract new jobs, the jobs will not be here," stated Bowles. Bowles also spoke on education and had this to say about "No Child Left Behind." "I am no fan of "No Child Left Behind." I believe in set, high standards and to hold people accountable, but to hold people accountable you better give the resources to get the job done." He then talked about teachers in the country needing to be paid more and that the teacher profession needs to be valued. He also said that more money should be placed in Pell grants and makes it available to more students. After education, he spoke on the state of health care in the country. "I don't want to meet another kid that can't be taken to the doctor because they don't have health care," said Bowles. "We have the stupidest health care system that man can devise. We have the best health care but the worst delivery system." Bowles ended his speech after speaking for approximately 25 minutes. His speech came to an abrupt end and followed up with mingling with the crowd answering questions on his position on the issues. "These issues aren't democratic and republican issues. They're American issues," stated Bowles. Chris Barona, a sophomore UNCG student, said, "His speech showed me that he has passion for this campaign. I'm glad he was able to make a visit."