ISU Democrats heard from six Democratic presidential campaign representatives, including Chrissy Gephardt, Dick Gephardt’s oldest daughter, Wednesday night at their first meeting of the semester.

Hannah Schoenthal-Muse, president of the ISU Democrats and junior in liberal studies, said the purpose of the meeting was to inform students about their Democratic choices in the upcoming caucus.

“There are nine candidates and a lot of students don’t know much about them,” she said. “It’s going to be a crazy year.”

Chrissy Gephardt, who is taking time off from her job as a social worker, said she has been campaigning for her dad for a long time.

“I’m 30 years old and my dad has been in Congress for 27 years,” she said.

Gephardt said she remembers going door to door as a little girl trying to get people to vote for her father.

“Looking back, it was a great experience. I got to meet so many people and see so many different viewpoints. It’s fascinating, grassroots politics,” she said.

Chrissy said the challenges she faces through her job as a social worker are much like the fights her father faces in Congress.

“He fights for people who don’t have a voice,” she said.

Gephardt said she has been going around the nation trying to reach college students and young people.

“I want people to know Dick Gephardt’s the man for the office,” she said.

Education was a big topic for the representatives, who took turns speaking to a crowd of 40 students.

Gephardt talked about her father’s plan, Teacher Core, which will pay back student loans for teachers who take jobs in school districts facing teacher shortages.

Jessie Bradley, representative from the John Edwards campaign, said Edwards values education and has a plan to pay for the first year of college for any student who is willing to work 10 hours a week and meets admission standards of public state universities.

Megan Ziemke, freshman in pre-business, said the current education system needs revising. She said she likes Gephardt’s plan and believes Edwards’ plan will not work.

“[Edwards’ plan] won’t help students who are already in college,” she said.

Nikki Thompson, representative for the Bob Graham campaign, said Graham brings a positive vision for America.

“[Graham] will bring forth opportunities for all … giving us a better economy,” she said. “As governor [of Florida], he created over 1 million jobs and that is something he can definitely do as president.”

Representatives from the John Kerry campaign showed a video highlighting Kerry’s vision and goals for the United States.

The video stressed Kerry’s involvement in the Vietnam war and his campaign slogan, which states Kerry “always had the courage to stand up for what’s right.”

During the video, Kerry spoke of his love of hockey and compared his campaign to the sport.

“Most guys go to where the puck is. I go to where the puck is going to be,” Kerry said.

In the video, Kerry also spoke about bringing new challenges to the United States.

“I would like to see this country challenge itself much like we challenged ourselves in the Sixties to go to the moon.

“We need to go to the moon here on Earth. We need to make this country stronger and safer,” Kerry said.

Daniel Whitaker, freshman in agricultural engineering, said he believes Kerry’s veteran status was a point in his favor.

“It’s good to have a man in power who knows what [war is] like before he sends other people in,” he said.

James Hutter, faculty adviser to the ISU Democrats and associate professor of political science, said the group doesn’t support any one candidate, but wants to help all candidates equally.

“The best way to help America pick a president is to have [every candidate] have an opportunity here in Iowa,” Hutter said. “Iowa is one place where candidates get to meet people one-on-one, answer questions and explain their positions.”

Whitaker said he liked the open forum environment of the evening.

“I think it’s good to have everybody get their message out. I like that they kept it very positive tonight,” he said.

Ziemke said it really helped inform her as to who the candidates were and what they stood for.

“I think it was an eye-opener and gave me a chance to find out about the candidates. I hadn’t taken time out [before] to find out who they were,” she said.