From the front lines of the Democratic campaign comes this first-hand account of an appearance by Bill Clinton in Findlay, Ohio. Emotions ran high Friday as they have throughout this race, particularly among young voters …

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With the Ohio primary looming Tuesday, March 4, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been campaigning heavily here for the last week.

The former First Lady even toted her famous husband and daughter along to speak wherever she herself couldn’t be present.

I had been following each candidate’s campaign trail through the Buckeye State on TV and in the papers when I could, but when it was announced in a campus-wide email that Bill Clinton would be speaking at the University of Findlay’s campus and that anyone could attend, to say I was excited would be an understatement.

Canvassing Ohio, Bill Clinton sparks the passion of voters young and old.

Although neither resolutely pro-Hillary nor pro-Barack, I knew that if I missed out on hearing the 42nd U.S. President speak at UF, I would sincerely regret it.

So I roused myself at 7:30 and stood in line among fellow students and Findlay residents outside Croy Gymnasium to hear the former President address us.

Trying to recap every emotion the event elicited in me is daunting, but in summation, it was a rare and special occasion on many levels.

I have not often (actually, not ever) in three years in this quiet, conservative town had a chance to stand in a crowd of predominantly young left-wingers whose political attitudes still hover above the apathetic / ambivalent line.

As I stood there, alternately shaking and tearing up, I became acutely aware of how palpable and electric the excitement was.

It could be I am still naïve, or that Clinton is the first major political figure whose stint in office I can clearly remember (I did a biographical report on him in 5th grade), but his speech undoubtedly appealed to my emotions, and I believed the sincerity with which the former president seemed to be speaking, regardless of the fact that so much of politics is doing just that: appealing to people’s emotions.

In that regard, I suppose, Bill Clinton could easily be considered one of the best politicians of all time.

What stuck with me most was simultaneously feeling so inspired and disheartened. I am sure my emotions were not the only ones appealed to in this rally. We (myself and my peers) are so desperate for some words of optimism and encouragement that we’ll eat them up and cling to them as well as whoever is delivering them.

But the state of affairs our country is in is bleak.

This became overwhelmingly evident Friday. I was aware of this before I attended this rally, but hearing it come from the mouth a figure that I both admire and respect brought things into a new kind of focus.

Bill Clinton spent time talking about the economy, global warming and foreign policy. One thing in particular that stuck with me was that “we have mortgaged our economic sovereignty” by borrowing money daily from China so that we can buy oil in Saudi Arabia, and then fight about it.

We are $2.2 trillion in debt.

There is something so fundamentally wrong about this, and so many other things taking place in our country, that I fail to understand how it could go unnoticed by the current powers that be.

It is not my intention nor my inclination to get up on a soap box here, so I will refrain from imposing any unsolicited personal opinions.

I do, however, hope that with some turnover in the White House there will be some change for the better, be it with Hillary Clinton or not.

I hope my fellow Ohioans will continue to take a route of non-complacency, and go to the polls tomorrow to vote for the change they want to see in this country.