Competing with the first home football game of the year for attendance, members of Duke For Kerry and Duke Democrats organized a rally to get Duke students and Durham residents fired up about the Democratic presidential ticket of John Kerry and Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.
Competing with the first home football game of the year for attendance, members of Duke For Kerry and Duke Democrats organized a rally to get Duke students and Durham residents fired up about the Democratic presidential ticket of John Kerry and Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.
The rally kicked off the two groups’ political activities at Duke for the fall, said senior Andrew Collins, president of Duke for Kerry and former University editor for The Chronicle. Duke Democrats President Jared Fish, a junior, said although Duke has been labeled an apolitical campus, the students at Saturday’s rally proved that political fervor is still alive and well.
Many important players in city and state politics came to praise Kerry and Edwards, gripe about Bush and encourage people to vote. Rally speakers included U.S. Rep. David Price, professor of political science; Bruce Payne, lecturer in public policy; William Schlesinger, dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences; Durham Mayor Bill Bell and John Edwards’ daughter, Cate.
Students and Durham residents came to support the speakers, eat free food and hear free live music from the groups Kody and The Alan Davis Band. The rally started at 2 p.m. and concluded at around 4:30 p.m.
Fish kicked off the rally by stressing the importance of getting voters to the polls. He cited the importance of a large voter turnout to his cause, saying, “When Durham votes, Democrats win.” Collins supplemented Fish’s message, saying voting is “every American’s greatest responsibility and privilege.”
Price, D-Dist. 4, echoed the theme of Kerry’s campaign, stressing that America needs to become “stronger at home and more respected around the world.” Schlesinger criticized the Bush administration’s environmental policies and decried Bush’s rejection of the Kyoto Protocol.
Following Schlesinger, the Durham mayor delivered a fiery and emotional speech that identified Durham’s chief concerns in the Nov. 2 election. Bell said Bush’s economic plans are hitting Durham especially hard. He also criticized Bush’s education plans.
In between speeches, rally participants passionately discussed concerns they had with the Bush administration and talked about why they liked Kerry.
Several Bush supporters, mostly students, yelled out pro-Bush remarks during the speeches as they trickled back from the football game in Wallace Wade Stadium. Many Kerry supporters looked annoyed at the “Go Bush!” and “Bush is my boy!” remarks, but responded with louder applause to drown them out.
The loud Bush supporters caught Cate Edwards off-guard during her speech, to the point that she admitted being distracted. Edwards, a recent graduate of Princeton University who has actively campaigned for her father and Kerry, delivered an address with a peer-to-peer feel wearing Rainbow brand sandals and casual clothes.
Her speech hit home to many students. Sophomore Quindelyn Cook said she appreciated that Edwards acknowledged that the soldiers who have died in Iraq are mostly college-aged.
Many organizations affiliated with the Democratic cause set up tables on the quad. Duke Democrats, Duke For Kerry, David Price’s campaign, Young Democrats of North Carolina Women’s Caucus, Duke’s Environmental Alliance, Students for Choice and students selling the popular “Bush? Not fine by me.” T-shirts showed up for the rally with informational pamphlets, posters, buttons and stickers to give to supporters.
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