Although Ames has yet to be graced with an appearance from a either presidential or vice presidential candidate this fall, their children are coming to town in force.

Cate Edwards, daughter of vice presidential candidate John Edwards, stopped at the Memorial Union on Friday to deliver a message of support for her father’s campaign. This is the third time candidates’ children have visited Ames.

“My dad and John Kerry have a plan for America to move it in the right direction,” Edwards said.

Edwards, a recent graduate of Princeton, spoke mostly about the importance of getting students out to vote.

“We need to keep encouraging young voters,” she said. “The last election was won by 537 votes — that’s about the size of an average college dorm.”

Audience members said Edwards related to the young audience, and also brought a sense of humor to the visit.

“She made it relatable, and brought issues that were close to home for college students,” said Cole Baessler, freshman in pre-architecture.

Not all of the questions, however, prompted such light-hearted responses. During her question and answer session, Edwards answered questions about the war in Iraq, terrorism and her father’s debate performance on Tuesday.

She was asked why her dad didn’t respond to Vice President Dick Cheney’s accusation that he had never met the senator before the debate, even though he had.

“He wished he would have addressed it because he could’ve called [Cheney] a liar on national TV,” Edwards said.

“But, he also wanted to use his time to address a topic of more substance.”

Edwards also defended her father’s stance on rolling back the upper-class tax cut.

“If we were to remove the tax break on the upper 2 percent, we would be able to fully fund No Child Left Behind, which has not been fully funded,” Edwards said.

Also in attendance on Friday were some of Story County’s Democratic candidates, including Beth Wessel-Kroeschell, Paul Fitzgerald and Wayne Clinton.

“You, as college students, have the power to make a change,” said Clinton, who is running unopposed for his second term as Story County supervisor.

Gabe Whitaker, president of the ISU Democrats, said he was impressed with Edwards.

“I thought she did a great job and will admit if she doesn’t know something,” he said.

He said there are no more election-related visits scheduled right now.

“We usually don’t get word about visits like these until the last minute,” Whitaker said.

Edwards plans to continue touring college campuses and speaking on behalf of her father and John Kerry’s campaign until the election on Nov. 2.