“Global warming is God hugging us closer,” Tina Fey said while playing vice presidential candidate Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska on Saturday Night Live.

College students have been weighing their votes upon issues such as climate change in this presidential cycle. The Saturday Night Live skit in which Fey acted as Palin provides us with an example of how the vice presidential candidates in the 2008 election, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware and Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, are better known to the American public than candidates in previous elections.

“This election is unique in the fact that we have gotten to know the vice presidential candidates very well,” freshman Christopher Lo said. “Due to the nature of the news media and technology, the public has been able to view them from all angles.”

As the vice presidential debate at Washington University nears, many students are excited to learn more about the vice presidential candidates and their views on current hot issues.

“Since the debate is coming to campus, I believe we are supposed to focus on the issues of the vice presidential candidates as well as those of the presidential candidates, because Biden or Palin is just one step away from becoming president,” freshman Michael Laks said.

Among the issues in this election that concern University students, the state of the national economy ranks first.

“The economy has to be the biggest issue,” fifth year student Ryan Whelpley said. “If that’s down, we don’t get jobs. I know a lot of people who are struggling to get jobs after college.”

In her home state of Alaska, Palin introduced a seven billion dollar economic savings plan for education and transportation and also reduced general fund spending by $124 million. Moreover, Palin has stated her support for free markets.

Like her running mate, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, Palin subscribes to an economic plan that fights unemployment, seeks government and financial reform, advocates cheaper energy initiatives and emphasizes fairer taxes and lower barriers to trade.

In the Senate, the Democratic vice presidential candidate Biden has advocated for investment in new government programs by ending the Iraq war and eliminating the Bush Administration’s tax cuts. In 2005, he voted against cutting $40 billion in government spending on Medicaid, Medicare, agriculture, employee pensions, conservation and student loans.

To jumpstart the economy, Biden and his running mate Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois support enacting a windfall profits tax in order to provide emergency relief to American families. They also provide for a plan to place $50 billion into the economy in order to protect over one million American jobs.

College students around the country consider education policy crucial to their vote.

“I’m very interested in education in general,” freshman Laura Zaim said. “I think it is something we have to share with those who don’t have the best access to it. Any educational reforms would be very important to me.”

For college students, Palin supports a plan to expand educational loan lending opportunities in all 50 states. In Alaska, she supported a $20 million increase in need-based aid for the University of Alaska.

In 2006, Biden voted for a bill that diverted $11 billion from corporate tax loopholes to education and grants. He supports an educational loans plan that will increase assistance to virtually all college students by paying for the first four thousand dollars of college tuition at the least.

Another issue of great concern for students is America’s involvement in the conflicts abroad in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I think we should get out of Iraq as soon as possible,” freshman Jack Marshall said, expressing a now-popular sentiment. “I would like to see a timetable set up soon.”

Though he originally voted for the war, Biden believes that the war has proven to be a failure.

“Iraq is like a big boulder sitting in the middle road,” Biden said. “It’s sucking up a $150 billion a year now. Unless you end that war in Iraq all the things we all care about are not going to be able to be done.”

Biden and Obama support a phased withdrawal plan that would take a total of 16 months. They project that this process will last until the summer of 2010. After that time, they plan to have a residual force remain in place to train Iraqi security personnel.

As early as 2006, while expressing her support for the troops, Palin wanted the Bush administration to formulate an exit strategy for the U.S. forces. Despite her desire for a timetable, Palin asserted that the Bush administration’s presence in Iraq is just and has succeeded in keeping terrorists off of American soil after 9/11.

Although she has supported the creation of a timetable in the past, Palin now believes it is essential for America to support Iraq’s government in order for the people of Iraq to become capable of governing themselves.

So far, Palin and McCain see the war as a success; they reject having the military leave the country until the goal of creating an independent Iraq is met.

The presence of the vice presidential debate on campus, as well as the increased media coverage of the candidates, has caused many students to become well-versed in the issues and the positions of the candidates.

“There has been a lot of hoopla about the vice presidential candidates,” senior Archana Varma said. “Now that they are coming here, people are doing their research to find out what they are about.”