Tom Wolf Visits Penn State Campus, Stresses Higher Education During Stop at Creamery

Gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf came to campus Wednesday to meet students and address supporters at Penn State.

The campaign bus pulled up on Curtin Avenue outside of the Berkey Creamery bright and early to the sound of applause from a crowd of about a hundred people.

Wolf shook hands and took pictures with fans ranging from College Democrats to State College locals before heading into the Creamery for a quick five-minute speech. After a brief introduction, Wolf took some time to express the need to focus on higher education in Pennsylvania.

“I don’t care who you are, what your party is, or where you’ve grown up, but you can’t like what you’ve seen over the last four years, especially if you’re a student,” he said. “We’ve made higher education less affordable and less accessible. We’ve got to change that. There’s no one who appreciates higher education more than I do.”

While he never called out the current governor by name, Wolf was sure to take shots at incumbent Tom Corbett, who critics claim has de-emphasized education over the course of his four-year term.

“When you graduate, I don’t want you thinking about going to New York or Boston or Austin,” Wolf told students. “I want you staying in Pennsylvania. We have some work to do to make that happen.”

His plan of action includes taking advantage of resources in Pennsylvania to spark the state’s faltering job creation numbers. Wolf talked about moneymakers such as hardwood reserves, coal, and natural gas, but said that it’s important to be responsible and environmentally-minded when tapping those types of resources.

“I used to say we went from ninth to 47th in job creation, but now we’re 50th,” he said. “Anyone who has taken geography knows that we only have 50 states in America. Whatever this governor is doing doesn’t work. That’s just objective.”

Corbett certainly isn’t a favorite in the polls ahead of Tuesday’s election. The most recent poll data has Wolf leading by anywhere from seven to 13 percentage points. Even so, the could-be governor stressed the need for supporters to go out and vote on November 4.

“I don’t care what the polls say. All I know is that the only polls that really count are the ones on election day,” he said. “If you don’t turn out, I don’t win, and if I don’t win I don’t get to make Pennsylvania better.”

With that, he got a small chocolate ice cream, schmoozed with a few more supporters, and got back on the campaign bus.