Second Lady Jill Biden speaks in Oakland, Strip

Oakland hosted the nation’s second lady on Sunday, if only for a few minutes.

Following her…

Sarah Kontos/ Senior Staff Photographer

Jill Biden met with supporters in the Strip District and Oakland Sunday

Oakland hosted the nation’s second lady on Sunday, if only for a few minutes.

Following her appearance at a Women for Obama-Biden event in the Strip District, Jill Biden, English professor and wife of Vice President Joe Biden, made a quick stop for a meet-and-greet with student workers at the Obama Campaign’s field office in Oakland this weekend.

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida, joined Dr. Biden in discussing women’s issues in the upcoming presidential election at the campaign event Sunday morning.

Held at the Obama Campaign’s Pittsburgh headquarters on Smallman Street in the Strip, the event attracted about 300 supporters.

Wasserman Schultz addressed the crowd first, stressing the importance of health care to this campaign. Relating the topic to her personal experiences as a breast cancer survivor, the congresswoman told the crowd a story about how, while working on the first Obama campaign and being treated for breast cancer in 2008, Biden wrote her a personal note of encouragement and support.

“That’s an example of the kind of real people that Jill and Joe are,” Wasserman Schultz said.

She went on to enumerate ways in which Obama’s health care act has supported women’s issues, such as through legislation covering contraception under health insurance.

“There are powerful forces out there who want to turn back the clock for women and women’s issues,” Wasserman Schultz added.

Biden, who grew up in Willow Grove, Pa., spoke next, also emphasizing the ways that her husband and the president have supported women politically. Biden mentioned the Violence Against Women Act, which her husband drafted, and Obamas’ support of the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill which targets pay differences between men and women. Biden also pointed out that the president has appointed more women to be federal judges than any of his predecessors.

As a self-described “woman who votes,” Biden said in her speech, “For women of my generation, one thing is certain: We can’t go back and refight the battles we fought decades ago.”

The event ended with Wasserman Schultz calling on all in attendance to volunteer as much of their time as they can spare at the campaign office during the remaining 51 days before Nov. 6. The audience responded by breaking into a chant of “four more years!”

After the event, Biden was off to Oakland to meet with students volunteering in the campaign office at Forbes Avenue and Atwood Street. The second lady arrived with donuts for the 50 students who had come out to see her.

“I brought donuts because you’ve been working hard,” she said.

Biden stayed for another few minutes, briefly addressing the group and then shaking hands with and speaking to some of the students in attendance.

The Oakland campaign office employs two full-time staffers and has 20 student interns.

Matt Mittenthal, the Obama Campaign’s press secretary for western Pennsylvania, said the campaign is running five offices in Allegheny County that are open seven days a week. He said the campaign considers Pennsylvania to be a critical swing state.

Pitt Democrats president Lara Sullivan attended the event and said it was an honor to have the second lady at the office, even if it was only for a few minutes.

“It gets students excited, and it goes to show students how important they really are,” Sullivan said.