"You all, the people in this room right now, could make this difference in this campaign," she said.
In her speech, Kuster discussed issues ranging from education access to financial reform. Kuster described the main factors in her consideration of any policy as boiling down to "whether whatever is proposed is going to help create jobs for New Hampshire, whether it's going to help the middle class and whether it's going to cut the deficit."
Throughout her speech, Kuster tried to put distance between herself and Bass, who spoke to the College Republicans last week. Kuster described herself as "shocked" by Bass' statements on Social Security, which Bass described as creating a generation of "indentured servants" who will have to pay for older generations' Social Security benefits. Kuster said the math behind privatizing Social Security "doesn't work," saying that the best way to shore up Social Security is to create jobs.
Kuster also emphasized the importance of job creation in her discussion of energy and the environment.
"If we can create good jobs in renewable energy, we can make us less dependent on foreign oil and we can save the planet," she said.
She criticized Bass for changing his views on environmental policy, including the cap-and-trade policy he repudiated in his Wednesday talk.
Kuster said her experience as an adoption attorney shaped her "passionately pro-choice" view and strong support for marriage equality a subject she described as "the civil rights issue of your era."
Kuster also discussed health care reform, stating that her biggest disappointment with existing reforms has been the government's "inability to grapple with the cost issue."
An ideal health care system would offer a public alternative, she said, drawing an analogy to publicly funded but not mandatory colleges and universities.
Democrats across the country this year are struggling to overcome the national frustration with the Democratic-controlled Congress and the Obama administration. Some political analysts are predicting that Democrats, who are facing backlash because of the still-struggling economy and federal debt, could lose control of one, if not both, houses of Congress this November.
According to The New York Time's political analysis blog, Five Thirty Eight, Kuster has a less than 40 percent chance of winning the election, although her predicted margin of loss falls within the margin of error.
Bass served in the House for 12 years before he was defeated in 2006 by Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes, who is currently running for New Hampshire's open U.S. Senate seat. Kuster is running for elected office for the first time, a fact she emphasized by contrasting herself with "Washington insiders."
"New Hampshire makes our politics very, very accessible" through its residency policies and the availability of same-day registration, Kuster said.
In her talk, Kuster described her history as a New Hampshire native. Before attending Dartmouth, Kuster went to school in Concord. Kuster's maternal grandfather was a dean of the College, and Kuster was a member of the third Dartmouth class to include women, which she said has motivated her to be "a voice for equality."
