Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak touted his track record to students near campus yesterday, in hopes… Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak touted his track record to students near campus yesterday, in hopes that they might help elect him to the U.S. Senate in this fall’s general election.

On the heels of his appearance in Monday’s Pittsburgh Labor Day Parade, Sestak spoke to a group of students, reporters and community members Tuesday morning at Carnegie Mellon University’s Connan Room.

The former three-star Navy admiral spoke of  his military experience and his intentions to spur small business growth while criticizing the fiscal policies of his Republican opponent, former Rep. Pat Toomey.

“Despite all the evidence, my opponent wants to set our country right back on the dangerous course that led us into this storm,” Sestak said. “‘More jobs, less government’ looks great on a bumper sticker. These four words are a campaign — a campaign political slogan — not a platform for real solutions.”

In the state’s May Democratic primary, Sestak worked past an early deficit to an eight-point victory over incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., who has served 30 years in the Senate. But with a recent Reuters-Ipsos poll showing him as a 10-point underdog among likely voters, Sestak still faces an uphill battle to close the gap separating him and Toomey.

And as Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate hovers at 9.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, both sides have made jobs and the economy a priority.

“Joe Sestak is right about one thing: There is a clear choice in this election,” Nachama Soloveichik, spokeswoman for the Toomey’s campaign, wrote in an e-mail. “In Washington, Sestak has supported an extreme agenda that has prevented us from creating jobs and having an economic recovery. These votes include supporting recording spending and debt, hundreds of billions of dollars in higher taxes and a government health care takeover.”

In his speech, Sestak — who has the backing of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, I-N.Y., as well as former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., — called for tax breaks to small businesses as a way to encourage new graduates to take jobs in Pennsylvania.

In coordinating with community colleges, universities and Organizing for America, the Sestak campaign is looking to garner the same sort of grassroots support that largely characterized Democratic campaigns in the 2008 elections.

“I am very interested in youth. That’s why I jumped on this opportunity [to speak to college students],” Sestak said. “I believe after all these years in the U.S. Navy, and now as a congressman, that there’s no greater service one can do than public service … to be involved in public service by, as a minimum, voting.”

The Toomey campaign has also rallied to harness the youth vote in creating morethan 30 Students for Toomey groups across Pennsylvania, according to Soloveichi.

“The best thing we can do for college students is end the deficit spending, massive taxincreases and huge expansion in government,” she said in an e-mail. “We need to institutepolitics that will help create jobs for our college students who will be entering the workforce soon.”

Joshua Sanders, vice president of Pitt Law Democrats, was among those in attendance at Sestak’s speech. His organization officially endorsed Sestak for Senate, along with all other Democratic candidates in all races across Pennsylvania, he said.

“We’re big believers, basically, that in order to enact its agenda, we need a critical mass of members within all the caucuses,” Sanders said. “If you want a Democratic agenda, you need Democrats in office.”

Pitt College Democrats President Kelli Vandergrift, a senior, was quick to echo support for Sestak. She did not attend the event or know how many of her club members were there.

The organization has likewise offered its official endorsement for Sestak, but Vandergrift said the economy is just one of the critical issues on the agenda ahead of November’s election.

“Health care is a very important issue,” she said. “I know that Obama’s bill was passed last semester, but health care is still a very important issue, in terms of people our age, making sure that everyone understands the new bill and that everybody has coverage.”

Some students hope they will have the opportunity to hear Sestak and Toomey expound upon these issues and more before the Nov. 2 general election.

Pitt College Republicans President Rachel Feinstein said her group, which officially endorsed Toomey for Senate, hopes to coordinate with the Pitt officials to potentially host a debate between the two Senate candidates.

“That’s still in the very early planning stages. Neither of the candidates have committed to anything at this point, but that is a possibility,” she said.

Both Feinstein and Vandergrift said their respective organizations are involved with the Student Vote Coalition, a non-partisan student voter registration effort conducted in coordination with Pitt’s Student Government Board.

And it’s this youth and student vote that might determine the outcome of the state Senate race, Sanders said.

“What’s going to determine this election this year is gonna be if we can get everyone who came out in 2008 to come out again in 2010,” he said. “It’s gonna be a hard road to till, but I think we’re gonna do it.”