Despite a winless Tuesday in the \Super Seven"" primaries, presidential candidate Howard Dean vowed to continue his campaign in a fiery speech Wednesday night at Club Majestic, 115 King St.
Celebrating the one-year anniversary of his campaign meet-ups, Dean told an energetic crowd of approximately 500 his campaign was about taking back the country from the big corporations who had been given free reign by President Bush.
According to Dean, Bush follows in the footsteps of previous presidents such as McKinley, Harding and Hoover, who let corporations run roughshod over small businesses and the public until progressive candidates defeated them.
""Who runs this country, people or corporate interests?"" he said. ""We need a new Teddy Roosevelt, a new Franklin Roosevelt, a new president to send George Bush back to Crawford, Texas.""
The crowd responded enthusiastically to Dean, cheering under the disco balls decorating Club Majestic and yelling comments about Bush that Dean chastised as ""probably not repeatable on network television.""
Dean also said current front-runner Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was too beholden to special interests to represent ordinary people in the White House.
""If you just want to change presidents, vote for any of us, because any of us is better than George Bush,"" he said. ""But if you want real change, I'm going to need your help ... we can't do it with a Washington insider.""
Dean also made fun of himself and his much-publicized Iowa concession speech, greeting the crowd by saying ""You guys make me so happy I could just scream.""
Dean spoke with The Daily Cardinal after spending time with supporters at Madison's, Dining and Diversions, 119 N. King St.
""I hope to get a huge turnout,""he said, referring to his chances for victory in Wisconsin with college students.
According to Dean, he represents the Wisconsin residents through his stances on such issues as unemployment and the war in Iraq. Dean added that under his proposed health care policy, all people under 25 would be covered by insurance.
Kyle Ryan, a UW-Madison senior, said she came to see Dean because he needs support in Wisconsin to win the nomination
""He's got a chance to take it if he takes Wisconsin and Michigan and some other key states,"" she said.
-Bridget Maniaci contributed to this report.
