Howard Dean spoke at a packed rally of student supporters in the Memorial Union Theater Thursday, making a last-minute stop in Madison as he continued to crisscross the state in search of votes.

After recently backtracking on previous statements that he would pull out of the race if he lost Wisconsin, Dean confirmed his campaign for the Democratic nomination would continue regardless of the results of the state’s primary Feb.17.

“We are working really hard in Wisconsin; we want to win here,” Dean said in an exclusive interview with The Badger Herald. “And if we do, we’re in great shape. If we don’t, we are going to keep going because what we really started was an attempt to change the political culture in Washington.”

Following the rally, Dean spent 45 minutes at the offices of the Herald to meet with members of the editorial staff.

Although saying the campaigns of Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) and Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) are embedded with special interests, Dean said any Democrat in the Oval Office is better than the current administration and that he would never use his campaign to “undermine the prospects of the Democratic Party.”

Dean lashed out at Bush’s record in office, saying the president has divided the nation along racial, gender and socioeconomic lines.

“This president ran as a uniter, not a divider,” Dean said. “That has about as much credibility as saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Baghdad.”

The former Vermont governor berated the administration for the war in Iraq as well.

“I don’t believe you send troops in and lie to the American people when you do it,” Dean told the Herald. “[T]he president told the American people there were weapons of mass destruction, that Iraq was buying uranium from Africa and that Iraq was about to get nuclear weapons.”

As Wisconsin stands on the verge of possibly adopting a state amendment banning gay marriage, Dean said he believes states should have the right to decide whether to legalize marriage for homosexuals. He said he opposes the Defense of Marriage Act.

“I am against a federal amendment,” Dean said. “I think every state has the right to choose how they give equal rights to every single American, and that’s not the federal government’s business.”

Dean said he appeals to young voters, who comprise the core of his support base, because of his record of standing up to President Bush and taking seriously the issues young people care about. Dean said if elected he would use some of the funds lost in federal coffers by Bush’s 2002 tax cuts to ensure $10,000 a year in grants and loans to all students qualified for college tuition. He implied that he would institute his previously stated plans to reinstate the pre-tax-cut margins on the middle and upper classes.

Dean has not been the only major candidate blazing a campaign trail across the state. The Edwards camp scheduled a town meeting in Racine Thursday and plans to stop in Madison for an appearance Saturday. Kerry is the featured guest at Gov. Doyle’s economic forum at noon today at the Alliant Energy Center, which he will attend after receiving Gen. Wesley Clark’s endorsement at 10:30 a.m. at the Red Gym.

All remaining candidates are set to camp out in Wisconsin in hopes of winning what could prove to be the key primary in deciding who finally captures the Democratic nomination.

Due to this season’s schedule, the primary here will be the only contest Feb. 17 and is the last primary before Super Tuesday March 2.