Classroom Publication

Issue date: 11/10/08 Section: Presidential debate

Media Credit: Anna Lempereur Save This Nation organized protest outside of Hofstra University during the Third Presidential Debate. Photo Credit: Nick Parisse.

A protest was held outside of Hofstra University during the third Presidential Debate on Oct. 15. Over 500 people stood across a road of almost a half of a mile long, protesting ACORN because of their recent 200,000 voter registrations that were under suspicion of being fraudulent in the state of Ohio. Protestors wanted to try to bring ACORN's attention and tell them that they needed an investigation into the issue before the election, and not after.

Joseph Caraccio started Save This Nation, a website that focuses on political issues and different ways to solve them, when he was a college student in New York City.

"I wanted to create a site that would organize a lot of information that isn't out there in the mass media for people to read," he said.

According to Caraccio, a great number of people were expected to show up at the protest. When he called the town in advance to get permits for the protest, he was told that a protest area was actually being set up due to the large amount of protest to take place.

"It was quite a scene," said Caraccio. "I was surprised by the amount of people that were there due to its location."

Caraccio said that the news showed a very peaceful crowd holding up signs, but the crowd was actually extremely loud and rowdy. Fifteen protestors of the Iraq war, armed with megaphones, were arrested for trying to cross a street that was blocked by police. One of them startled a police horse while trying to cross the street, and was injured.

"The police presence was huge," said Caraccio. "I was basically attacked at one point by a group of people, and the police had to step in to help me out." He said that there were hundreds of people screaming by 9 p.m.

Alison Chan, 21, a third year student at Nassau Community College, also noticed the commotion that was caused about the war.

"People were hazing other people and chasing the veterans," she said. "There were a lot of people protesting."

Chan said that she showed up at the protest with her friend Kevin Viola, 20, because she wanted her voice to be heard.

"The best part was just voicing your opinion," she said. "There were a lot of people protesting about abortion, healthcare, and gay marriage."

Present at the protest were Fox 5 News, ABC News, and officials from the Green Party and Planned Parenthood. The officials spoke on a stage set up in the university's parking lot.

"There were almost no conservatives there - there were only about six who were there for McCain and Palin," said Caraccio. "It was more of a party-like campaign event for Barack Obama than a protest of any kind…there were tables of people selling Obama T-shirts, pins, and stickers. The crowd there was overwhelmingly celebratory of Obama."

Although there was a huge turnout at the protest, Caraccio said that his message was unsuccessful.

"Many of the people who were there had no idea who ACORN was, and were not interested in finding out," he said.

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