Presidential candidate Vermont Gov. Howard Dean will bring his

national college campaign tour to the University of Wisconsin in

early October, state campaign coordinator Mike Tate announced at

the Students for Dean kickoff meeting Thursday.

Dean will appear on the front lawn of the Kohl Center Sunday,

Oct. 5, after a weeklong tour of college campuses around the

country.

Tate requested that meeting attendees support Dean’s campaign in

upcoming weeks and announced a need for students to help chalk

sidewalks, man pro-Dean tables around campus and hand out some

100,000 quarter-sheet fliers in the week preceding Dean’s

arrival.

“This is a great opportunity for students to get involved.

College campuses should be the first place candidates visit; there

is so much energy here,” said Students for Dean member and UW

sophomore Emily Falenczykowski-Scott.

Tate hopes at least 1,000 people will attend the Kohl Center

rally. A drawing will be held among student volunteers for a chance

to meet and introduce Dean on stage. All volunteers will receive a

free t-shirt for helping with the campaign.

Other supporters of the campaign voiced their endorsement of

Dean’s political opinions. Madison District 8 Ald. Austin King

expressed his support for Dean’s stance on issues such as abortion

and affirmative action, both of which Dean strongly supports.

“I am excited as hell for Howard’s candidacy for the

presidency,” said King.

King also contrasted Dean with presidential candidates Sens.

John Kerry and John Edwards, saying Dean had voted in favor of

issues that the Democratic Party supports more frequently and

consistently than either Kerry or Edwards. Kerry and Edwards both

recently avoided a pro-life vote in congress, King added.

Other meeting attendees also expressed their support for

Dean.

“I feel like he can win, and I agree with his [political

views],” said UW junior Emily Fischer. “I feel he is a good

combination of both elements of a good candidate.”

Dean is one of 10 current Democratic candidates, including Sen.

John Kerry, D-Mass., Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., retired Gen. Wesley

Clark, and Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun.

Frank Harris, chair of the University of Wisconsin College

Republicans, however, feels differently about Dean’s campaign.

“In the long run, the best Democratic candidate is going to be

one that doesn’t focus on the war. When I heard (UW professor of

history) John Sharpless speak at one of our meetings, he said the

Howard Dean campaign really has to take focus out of war,” Harris

said. “Voters don’t want to hear about dying people.”

Harris added that focusing on domestic issues would improve

Dean’s campaign.

All the Democratic candidates consider the U.S. economy to be a

major issue in the upcoming election, and many of them are taking

different stances regarding the repeal of Bush’s tax cuts.

In a televised debate among the candidates Thursday, Dean

promised a reduction of President Bush’s tax cuts and a reduction

of the federal deficit, which is currently projected to be several

hundred billion dollars for the next fiscal year.