A spirited Democratic presidential debate aimed at young people drew an enthusiastic crowd of students to the Rathskellar Tuesday night.
About 50 people attended the informal debate, sponsored by the Wisconsin Union Directorate Contemporary Issues Community. Many were volunteers for the Howard Dean, Wesley Clark and John Kerry campaigns, there to root for their candidates. The students cheered, laughed, and generally followed the lively tone of the debate.
CNN and Rock the Vote sponsored the debate, held in Boston, Mass., and attended by all the candidates except U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo. The format of the debate let students in the audience ask questions of the candidates and allowed young people across the country to e-mail in their queries.
Aside from questions on the usual issues, such as the economy, Iraq and gay rights, the candidates answered several unusual inquiries. One student asked the candidates which candidate they would most like to party with. Rev. Al Sharpton said he would party with Theresa Heinz-Kerry, D-Mass., which led Kerry to respond he would party with Sharpton to keep an eye on his wife. U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., added he wanted to \party with the young lady who asked that question,"" which drew laughs from the audience.
The candidates also answered the question that got Bill Clinton in trouble in 1992: Had they smoked marijuana? Kerry, U.S. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., and front-runner Gov. Howard Dean, D-Vt., said they had smoked, while Lieberman, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and Clark said they had not.
Many observers agreed while Edwards put in a good performance, Sharpton's rhetorical skills stole the show. On the subject of the economy, Sharpton said, ""We believe in dreams. President Bush believes in hallucinations.""
He added the first thing he would think when he woke up in the White House would be, ""I'd be hoping that Bush had gotten all his stuff out. Then I'd change the locks.""
Students at the Rathskeller had mixed reactions to the debate. Leah Rabin, the state coordinator of Students for Clark, said some of the candidates were beginning to sound alike.
""It's getting so there are more candidates you want rather than less, the more you hear about them,"" she said.
A big theme of both the debate and the viewing was the need for Democrats to band together to defeat Bush. Brian Shactman, a self-proclaimed member of ""Generation Dean"" and UW-Madison senior, said he thinks Dean is the mostly likely candidate to beat Bush by getting out the vote. However, he added he would support any candidate who got the nomination.
""Face it, every Democrat in that room is going to have to work together in the next six months,"" he said. ""As soon as these primaries are over, we all become family ... the one vote is to beat Bush.""
Mike Pfohl, a member of Students for Kerry and UW-Madison junior, agreed with Shactman, saying, ""We will unite no matter who wins to get rid of Bush,"" he said.
