COBDEN - If the youth of this country are the future, as Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin says, then he's taking no chances missing out on getting the youth to the polls.

Durbin stopped in at Cobden Junior-Senior High School on Friday as a favor to his friend, United States government teacher Josh Franklin. He took the opportunity to push politics - not his politics, just politics in general - on the students, urging them to get interested, to get informed and to vote.

"There are soldiers fighting for your right to vote," he said. "If you don't vote when you have the opportunity - you should think about that. And when I vote in the Senate, if I vote in favor of a war, that affects your life."

Durbin said after his meeting with the 2007 Cobden Senior Class that he enjoys going to high schools and does it frequently.

"I do this all the time," he said. "In a few years, they'll be the voters."

Durbin fielded questions on a broad array of topics, from immigration to Senatorial courtesy to the power balance between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate in light of Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson's recent medical emergency.

While he wasn't exactly politically stumping and while he wasn't in Cobden to make any big political announcements or launch any surprises, Durbin wasn't afraid to give his opinion to the students.

"I can't tell you what a big deal it is to run for national political office," he said. "If you have millions of dollars to spend, you can spend millions. But most of us have to ask for contributions. It takes between $10 million and $20 million to run a national political election campaign. I can't accept more than $2,000 from any one person. So that shows you how many people I have to ask. You have to try to raise the money without selling your soul. We've got to change the system."

Durbin also talked about student loan interest rates (they should be lower), Sen. Barack Obama (he hopes he runs for President), Hilary Clinton (he believes she would run a strong campaign), a future woman president (he is confident there will be a woman president in the lifetime of the current seniors), and immigration (we need to strengthen our borders but establish a process by which those currently illegal can become legal).

"I think the students got to see somebody in action, put a face to the name," Franklin said. "I think it makes government come alive for them (for a United States Senator to visit the classroom). This was an opportunity for them to see one of these guys as a person, not just someone who casts votes and doesn't care about them."

Priciliano Fabian, class president, said he didn't get to ask his question about the federal and state minimum wage laws - but having a senator visit class was a great experience, he said. Fabian said he had the opportunity to meet Obama on a youth trip to Washington, D. C. and found him to be "one of the nicest people of anyone I have ever met."

But after this visit, Durbin has something Obama probably does not - an official Cobden Appleknockers T-shirt. Durbin promised to wear the shirt, presented to him by a representative of the senior class, in the gym used by D. C. congressmen.

andrea.hahn@thesouthern.com

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