FORT WAYNE - Homestead High School senior Andrew Reiman was handed a microphone after the speech to ask Sen. Barack Obama a question.
At Obama's speech Friday in Fort Wayne, local students and future Ball State University students had their chance to witness the campaign first hand.
In the upper deck bleachers of Wayne High School's gymnasium, Reiman, an incoming Ball State freshman, said the other candidates forgot about the younger vote before asking his question.
"I want to know what you would do to fix the environment that is so quickly failing us and especially when so little is done to help it," he asked Obama.
Obama said his campaign has been working hard to get the young vote and his answer addressed such issues as national debt and a shrinking economy.
He proposed an 80 percent reduction of greenhouse gases by 2050, but also called on the audience to act.
"Because every time you set that thermometer at 75 degrees so you can walk around in shorts in your house, every time you can pass up buying the squiggly light bulb ... you are contributing to the problem of global warming," he said.
Reiman asked the question because it's one of the most important issue for young voters, he said afterward.
"He skirted around the issue somewhat, but he answered my question," Reiman said.
Reiman was a supporter of Obama since the beginning of the primaries and the connections Obama made between himself, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were strong, he said.
Northrop High School senior Matt Bennett, an incoming Ball State freshman, said he enjoyed the speech and thought his comparison between King, Kennedy and himself were appropriate.
Bennett said Obama, Kennedy and King were similar because they represented change and hope in troublesome times and finished what they started.
"I think the guy's a hero, he's going to save us all," he said.
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