As the Chicago Cubs fought for a long-shot trip to the World Series Wednesday, another Chicago native discussed her longshot candidacy for president.

Former Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun discussed her Democratic candidacy in front of over 100 students in the Memorial Union Sun Room Wednesday. She defended her low number in opinion polls, saying people have been telling her she couldn’t win public office since 1978.

“When I ran for the Illinois Legislature I was told that blacks wouldn’t vote for me because I wasn’t part of the political machine, whites wouldn’t vote for me because I was black and nobody else would vote for me because I was a woman,” she said.

Moseley Braun was elected to the Illinois Legislature that year. Then in 1992, she was elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first female senator from Illinois and the nation’s first female African-American senator.

After losing her Senate seat in 1998, she was appointed as U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand by President Clinton, where she served from 1999 to 2001.

A recent poll by the Des Moines Register showed only one percent of Iowans likely to participate in the caucuses said Moseley Braun was their first choice. She defended her candidacy, saying she had been victorious in similar situations.

“In a democracy, it’s not the polls that get you elected, it’s how many votes you have,” she said.

Highlights of Moseley Braun’s speech included outlining plans for economic growth through the elimination of the tax cut for the top one percent and comparing the Patriot Act to George Orwell’s “1984.”

“I hope George Orwell was a fiction writer and not a prophet. If this country keeps going in this direction, we won’t recognize it in five years,” she said.

Moseley Braun said she would fight the prohibitively expensive costs of university tuition by expanding Pell Grants and prevent students from relying exclusively on student loans.

Attendees said they were glad to see a woman running for president. However, one attendee raised a question about Moseley Braun’s past. Robert Baum, professor in religious studies, question Moseley Braun about a 1996 trip to Nigeria to visit Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha.

“It’s crazy how many times I’ve answered that question,” Moseley Braun said. “I went to his son’s funeral, which was the extent of our interaction. With my record of fighting for human rights, it was nothing short of ironic that opponents attacked me on this issue.”

Margo McNabb, 1232 Wisconsin Ave., said Moseley Braun was a unique candidate because of her diverse political experience—ranging from state legislator to ambassador.

“She is an appealing candidate because she’s been involved in the spectrum of political experience,” she said.