The first ever Democracy Day at Dartmouth, an event to promote and celebrate student participation in the political process, drew more than 100 students and community members to the Dartmouth Hall lawn on Sunday morning.
Paul Hodes, Democratic candidate for one of New Hampshire's two seats in the U.S. Congress, headlined the day's proceedings with a speech that was followed by canvassing across New Hampshire's 2nd District.
"Hodes talked about his experience as a youth when he first got involved in politics, during the Vietnam era and drew some parallels to today," College Democrats President Michael Heslin '08 said. "Overall I was very impressed."
Despite a smaller-than-expected turnout, the event was still considered to be a success, event organizer David Glovsky '08 said.
"While turnout was depressed somewhat due to the lack of a nationally known speaker, the canvass went very well, and the speakers we had did a great job of getting the message of Democracy Day across," Glovsky said. "Our goal was to empower students to take political action, and in that respect, it was definitely a success."
Heslin said the success of the event reflects well on the College's student body.
"One of the biggest strengths of our college is how involved and how interested the student body is," Heslin said. "This kind of event can't be pulled off at other schools. When even a handful of kids will come out on a Sunday morning at 10 a.m., I think that's something we need to be celebrating and something we need to be very happy about,"
Micaela Klein '10, a member of the College Democrats, said she volunteered at the rally to immerse herself in New Hampshire politics.
"I think that it did do a good job in terms of raising awareness about the candidates, and in that way it was about democracy," Klein said. "I don't know if it was bipartisan though; it would have been nice to see some College Republicans out there."
Although the event was intended to be bipartisan, at times the speeches became overtly political, according to Heslin.
"Hodes threw in a few of his stump speech platforms, which we had hoped not to have," Heslin said. "We've actually been working very closely with the Republicans for the get out the vote effort. There's not quite the animosity that you might have on the national stage."
The morning kicked off with a meet and greet where students mingled with the speakers over bagels, coffee and orange juice. Speakers included Hodes, State Sen. Peter Burling (D-N.H.), State Sen. Candidate Deb Reynolds, State Rep. Scott Merrick (D-N.H.) and Concord City Democrats Chairman Alex Lee.
"Our participation is something that gives the campaign a boost that hopefully we'll see the results of on Election Day," Heslin said.