While Democratic candidates for President were busy making a late push for donations before the third quarter fundraising period ends today, seven Dartmouth students involved with the campaigns gathered last night for to defend their bosses' platforms.
Although each participant at the debate, entitled "On the Road to the White House," did not speak officially on behalf of the candidates, the tone paralleled the actual Presidential debates. Each student called for party unity in unseating President Bush but struggled with the opportunity to differentiate themselves from the crowded field.
Despite a plea from moderator Paul Heintz '06, President of the Dartmouth Young Democrats, to refrain from divisive debate, John Edwards volunteer Phil Peisch '04 specifically attacked Wesley Clark volunteer Brian Martin '06 by questioning his involvement with Axicom, an information company under fire for its role in providing airline passenger information with an Army contractor. Mr. Martin was never given the chance to answer.
On the issue Democrats have singled out as most important to the electorate in 2004, jobs and the economy, Howard Dean supporter Graham Roth '04 repeated Dean's pledge to repeal the entirety of President Bush's tax cuts. He stressed Dean's commitment to improving social programs such as special education in return for the tax cuts, which averaged $400 per American.
Every other candidate disagreed with Roth and Dean, instead preferring to preserve the tax cut for the middle class while rolling back those for the wealthy.
"Out of all the problems in the country, I think the middle class having too much money is not one of them," said John Kerry volunteer Janos Marton '04.
With regards to Iraq, all candidates unsurprisingly came out harshly against the President, calling for a more multilateral approach. Martin summed up the general mood by saying "President Bush is like a child who spilt milk, and now an adult has to come in to clean up the mess."
Dave Hankins '05, a Senator Bob Graham volunteer, addressed the continuing electability problem of his candidate by citing the fact that 66 percent of the country still cannot name a single Democrat in the wide-open race.
Others made electability and polls a major topic. Peisch called electability Senator Edwards' main draw, as he is the only candidate from an extremely conservative state in the South. No non-Southern Democrat has been elected President since John F. Kennedy in 1960.
Marton claimed to prefer to concentrate on policy. In response to Peisch, however, he highlighted the fact that polls which pit Democratic candidates against the President all confirm that any candidate, not just a Southerner, could defeat Bush in 2004.
Marton continued his criticisms of other candidates in his conclusion.
"We should not get too hung up on who is telegenic, who has the best catch phrases, and who is polling best in some Southern state that Bush is going to win anyway," he said.
Roth made the most overt attack on another candidate in his conclusion, which singled out Marton and Kerry. Although the attack was Kerry-specific, it fell in line with Dean's criticisms of the entire field as too concerned with adopting moderate positions.
"I'd like to respond to Janos; although he doesn't dignify [a response]," he said. "The difference between me and Janos, who's supporting Kerry, is that I'm not up here to apologize for my candidate's positions."
Dick Gephardt supporter Vikash Reddy '05 made an impact in his criticisms of Bush anti-terrorism policies.
"John Ashcroft and his tactics are not so hot in the fight against terrorism, so you don't have to worry about Big Bad John coming after you with Dick Gephardt as President," he said.
The rest of the candidates took similar positions in the fight against terrorism. Homeland security, which has long been a strong suit for Republicans, was the defining issue of 2002 mid-term elections, and is seen as a Democratic weakness in 2004.
Joe Lieberman volunteer Matt Slaine '06 took the unorthodox approach of speaking in the first person, making references to his marching for Civil Rights in the 1960s and his record in Congress. Slaine scored considerable applause from the overwhelmingly Democratic audience when he said "I know I can beat Bush in 2004 because Al Gore and I did in 2000."
The largest applause of the evening was reserved for Marton. When answering an audience member's question on how to compete with the "massive" fundraising advantage of the President, he cited Kerry's superior debating skill by promising that Kerry would handily defeat the President in a one-on-one debate. He went further, stating "most of [the audience] could kill George W. Bush in a debate."
The debate, organized by the Rockefeller Center, was the first in a series of forums planned for the fall. Volunteers from the Moseley-Braun, Sharpton and Kucinich campaigns were invited via advertisements, however no Dartmouth students contacted the Rockefeller Center to participate.
