Mayor Dave Cieslewicz spoke Tuesday to a crowd of College Democrats who sponsored him at a kick-off event for his campaign entitled ""Students for Mayor Dave.""
During the meeting, Cieslewicz touched on his grassroots campaign and stance as a liberal Democrat. He encouraged students to ""get beyond people's party labels and ideology.""
Cieslewicz is Madison's current mayor and is running for re-election against three other candidates in April.
He told those in attendance that too much negativity exists in campaigning and pledged to run a positive campaign against opponents.
""People are hungry for positive messages, and for someone who really will listen and talk about the issue,"" he said. ""They're ready for a whole new policy and we can start that right here in Madison.""
Andy Gordon, communications chair for the College Democrats, said Cieslewicz has been a big advocate for students, working for issues such as campus safety, a growing downtown area, high costs for housing and transportation issues.
""Mayor Dave has been a leader and accomplished complete results, for not only students but for the people of Madison,"" Gordon said.
Gordon also said he was excited about the mayor's positive campaign philosophy.
""I think students oftentimes get put off by negative campaigning and it seems that every passing election cycle there's just more and more negativity,"" he said. ""I think that prevents us from having a true discussion and exploring ideas in policies. It's great to see candidates make that commitment [for a positive campaign].""
In addition to campaigning, Cieslewicz noted the importance of the students' vote in the upcoming spring election. In 2003, Cieslewicz won by a slim margin of about 1100 votes, which included a large amount of student votes.
Cieslewicz also told students of his plan to run by his first name, as opposed to the common form of running by last name. Due to the difficulty of pronouncing his Polish last name, Cieslewicz said he would tote lawn signs saying ""Mayor Dave for Mayor.""
