A sea of red, white and blue streamed from the University of Wisconsin Kohl Center Sunday afternoon welcoming Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s campaign for the 2004 presidential election.
Approximately 5,000 students and Wisconsin residents lined the sidewalks and lawn for Dean’s “Raising the Roots” tour. Introducing the presidential candidate was Wisconsin Senate majority leader, Jon Erpenbach, an early supporter of Dean.
“Bush is wrong on so many things. We can disagree,” he said in favor of policy and power change.
Dean’s rally emphasized the political role of a younger generation by labeling his campaign “Generation Dean.”
“This generation is extraordinary,” Dean said. “This [campaign] is about the transfer of power by this generation.”
Dean added that 18- to 30-year-olds are the drivers of the presidential campaign. He said 25 percent of his online donations come from “young people,” who also make up one-third of his campaign volunteers.
Dean said the decisions the nation’s leaders make today affect the future of “Generation Dean.” Therefore, improved economic, environmental, educational and health policies are the basis of his platform.
Dean campaigned for policies including small-business investments, a “truthful” foreign policy, universal health insurance, renewable energy and workers’ rights.
“You have the power to make this country middle class again,” Dean told the crowd. “You have the power to take this country back again.”
Although admission was free, Dean encouraged those who attended to bring donations of a canned good, nonperishable food or personal-care item for the families of Tyson Foods plant strikers in Jefferson County, Wis.
Dean also said that with three million jobs lost and a $500 billion deficit since President Bush had come into office, it was time to change political power.
“It’s the largest attack on the working and middle class since Ronald Reagan,” Dean said.
He asked voters to shift the party in power from Republican to Democrat.
The Democratic candidate aims to get the 50 percent of Americans who do not vote to the polls in next year’s election.
However, not everyone in the crowd was a Dean supporter. About 50 college Republicans, carrying “Bush/Cheney 2004” signs, stood on the outskirts of the assembly.
“I think Howard Dean brought a message of pessimism, negativity and unrealistic promises to the UW-Madison campus,” UW law student Tom O’Day said. “It’s something that students want to hear, but it’s unrealistic.”
O’Day said that even if Dean did well in Madison, he would not have enough overall votes to win the election in November 2004.
“Students would do well to take Howie Dean’s unrealistic promise of lower tuition, more jobs and a safer world with a grain of salt,” O’Day said.
The rally surrounded the group of students camped out for football and basketball tickets. Most did not know the rally was taking place beforehand but thought it was interesting to be a part of a presidential rally.
“I wouldn’t have come out to hear him, but [Dean] had some good points,” UW senior Matt Miron said.
“Raise the Roots” is a four-day, seven-city youth tour that began Oct. 3. Tour stops included Washington, D.C.; Charleston, S.C.; Norman, Okla.; Seattle, Wash.; Iowa City, Iowa; Madison, Wis.; Keene, N.H.; and Durham, N.H.
Dean was seen later Sunday on the UW campus participating in Hillel services, sitting in the first row at the Red Gym for the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur.
