House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told college journalists during a taping of an mtvU show at GW on Tuesday morning that a joint ticket with Democratic candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) and Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) is impossible.
Such a joint ticket would not help the Democrats win votes in the general election if either candidate ran as a vice president, Pelosi said during a taping of “Editorial Board,” produced by MTV’s college station and hosted by The Hatchet.
“The only time I saw (a joint ticket) was with (Lyndon B. Johnson) and (John F. Kennedy) and that happened because LBJ was able to deliver Texas, a very important state for the general election,” Pelosi said. “In this case, I just don’t see that. Illinois and New York are both very Democratic.”
The Democratic Party must pick their nominee soon and “be unified when we go in” if the Democrats intend to win the general election, she said. She added that the Democratic Party should reduce the number of super delegates that can vote for the Democratic nominee and define the role of a super delegate more clearly.
The California Congresswoman said she has yet to endorse a candidate for president.
“Senator(s) Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will both be presidents for change,” she said. “Either one of them will do an amazing job (and) at the end of the day, we have two great candidates. One great president and a leader will emerge.”
The college editors also discussed the war in Iraq, human rights abuses in China and, the summer Olympics in Beijing. The discussion will air on mtvU. The Hatchet is one of nearly 550 members of mtvU’s College Media Network.
MtvU chose to film the second episode of the series at GW because Pelosi wanted to tape it in D.C. and College Media Network has a good relationship with The Hatchet, said Stephen Friedman, the general manager of mtvU.
The questions were not scripted and enabled “the smartest young college students and journalists in America to showcase their talents,” he said.
“The great thing is that . college journalists are able to think on their feet,” Friedman said. “They’ve got to have an encyclopedic knowledge of everything (Pelosi) said so they get more than just the standard answer.”
The first episode, which was taped at Tulane University in New Orleans March 16, featured former President Bill Clinton. Lily Lamboy, a sophomore at Smith College, was a member of the Editorial Board for both episodes. Jake Sherman, editor in chief of The Hatchet, joined students from the University of San Francisco and the University of Michigan for this week’s Pelosi event.
“I want to get into politics so for me this isn’t about just getting her to say things because I have a personal stake in these issues and she is my role model. I wanted to listen to what she had to say,” said Lamboy, a sophomore.
“We set up traps and hoped responses last night and she responded mostly the way we expected,” Lamboy said. “There is so much information on (Nancy Pelosi) that it is a matter of organizing your questions to get the answer you want.”
The show will air April 16 on mtvU and mtvU.com. Clips are available on mtvU.com.
