Presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., didn’t want the Hawkeyes to win Saturday’s big game. He didn’t want the Cyclones to win, either.

“I want to win Iowa,” Kerry said, after a student jokingly asked Kerry which team he would rather see win the state’s annual Superbowl.

A group of about 35 people gathered in the Maple-Willow-Larch commons Saturday morning for a question and answer session with Kerry.

Kerry fielded questions on a variety of topics, ranging from funding education and creating jobs to improving foreign relations.

“We can do better for this country than we are doing today,” Kerry said.

Kerry stressed the importance of young people voting.

“You have the ability to make the difference in what happens to this country,” he said.

Kerry answered a question regarding the decrease in the number of people who will receive Pell Grants and the decrease in the size of Pell Grants to be given next year by outlining four ways of providing more funding for higher education.

He said he would like to restore and increase the federal Pell Grant, as well as consolidate student-lending programs to simplify the process of applying for college loans.

Kerry blamed Bush’s tax cuts for taking money away from need-based aid, such as Pell grants.

“Over 50 percent of the last tax cut went to 1 percent of Americans, the top 1 percent,” he said.

Kerry said he has created a program for providing families with a $4,000 per year tax credit toward college.

In addition, he stated a need for Americans to “restore a sense of service.” Arguing there are less Peace Corps volunteers today than there were when John F. Kennedy founded the organization in 1961, Kerry announced his goal of increasing participation by 25,000 people. In return for giving two years of service to the community or country, Kerry said the government would pay for all four years of in-state college tuition for participants.

“I think it is most important that all of the Democratic candidates place education as a higher priority than the current administration,” said Hannah Schoenthal-Muse, president of the ISU Democrats. “Kerry has great ideas for problems students face.”

To meet employment needs, Kerry suggested developing new ways of producing energy. Kerry highlighted steering away from reliance on foreign oil and becoming energy independent as goals he has for the nation.

Kerry also declared a need for international support in bringing peace to the Middle East, saying Bush “didn’t do a good job of building coalition.”

Members of the ISU Democrats said they agreed with Kerry on the importance of getting young people to the polls.

“We, as young people, need to tap into our strength. There are millions of people our age who just don’t vote,” said Karla Hardy, member of the ISU Democrats and representative of the ISU group Students for Kerry.

“Young people have been the people who start movements. We do have power,” Schoenthal-Muse said.