Remsenburg Resident Gets Front Row Seat At Presidential Debate

When the second presidential debate kicks off on Tuesday night, Krystal Olivieri, a Hofstra student from Remsenburg, will be watching live from her seat inside the debate hall.

On Monday morning, Olivieri, a marketing masters student with a career goal to break into political campaigning, received word that she, along with 300 other students, will have the opportunity to sit in the audience.

"I am so excited," said Olivieri, who said she submitted an application in early August to be a part of the debate.

"It was like submitting a job resume," said Olivieri of the process, adding that she has known for a while that she was an approved volunteer for the debate, but was surprised to learn that she was selected to get a seat.

Holding a bachelor's degree from SUNY Albany in political science and history, Olivieri said she will be particularly interested in seeing how the candidates respond to questions in this second round.

"I think this debate is going to be very different from the first," she said. "I think that President Obama is going to come with a little more fight and Romney will be put in a position to answer questions that he doesn't want to. They will both be on high alert."

Olivieri, who currently works for Hofstra's teacher leader quality partnership program, which is funded by the No Child Left Behind Act, says she will be paying very close attention to the candidates' answers as she still has not made up her mind on who she will vote for on Nov. 6.

"One question I'd love Mitt Romney to be able to answer is to better explain his plan on the economy and I'd like to ask President Obama if he feels that after four years in office, he is better able to gauge how to handle the next four years."

Olivieri recently appeared live on the Around the Beach with Lisa Fox show, which streams live on Patch every Thursday night at 8 p.m. Watch a recording of the program in which Olivieri appeared here.

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