Flanked by a crowd of enthusiastic students, U.S. Senator Russ Feingold and Gov. Jim Doyle sought to mobilize student voters for the upcoming election, criticizing Doyle's Republican opponent Mark Green for being too extreme for the state and its students.
Feingold introduced Doyle at the event sponsored by the College Democrats outside Memorial Union as students cheered ""four more years."" The two Democrats, both UW-Madison alumni, threw punches at the Bush administration and Green's voting record, and unveiled Doyle's college financial aid plans.
Labeling the Bush administration ""the extreme of the extreme,"" Feingold highlighted Doyle's commitment to stem cell research, abortion rights and lowering tuition costs.
""[Green] is in fact part of an overall extreme agenda that is wrong for Wisconsin and wrong for this country,"" Feingold said. ""If you think we should have a governor who will think for himself and not do everything George Bush and Dick Cheney say, then Green is not your candidate.""
Doyle attacked Green for his lack of commitment to protecting ""basic rights"" and committed himself to keeping Wisconsin at the forefront of stem-cell research. He said Green has likened embryonic stem cell research to killing and would shut down groundbreaking research on campus.
After accusing Green of wanting to halt stem cell research, prevent raped women from receiving an abortion and refusing to increase the minimum wage, Doyle questioned Green's compassion for the people.
""You'd wonder if you went over to the University Hospital and had a heart surgeon open up [Green's] chest cavity and look in, whether there'd even be a heart in there,"" Doyle said.
Additionally, the governor laid out his plan that he hopes will make UW-Madison the most affordable Big Ten university. To keep tuition from rising, Doyle proposed the UW system raise tuition at the same rate of inflation.
According to Feingold, when Doyle came into office in 2002, he ""came into one of the worst fiscal situations the country has seen."" Comparing Doyle's response to lowering the deficit to the economy's boost under President Bill Clinton, Feingold praised Doyle for vetoing Republican bills that would cut funding to the university.
Feingold said the bills Doyle vetoed would have cut university funding by $35 million and financial aid by $11 million.
Again, Doyle said Green voted to cut $12 billion in federal funds for financial aid.
""I am very proud that while Washington has been attacking financial aid, that in Wisconsin over the next four years, we will have doubled our commitment to financial aid,"" Doyle said.
Feingold, who graduated in 1975, said ""In those days for four years at UW- Madison, tuition, a place to stay, your books and a few beers"" cost $10,000 total.
