Presidential candidate Kucinich visits campus

The rain did not keep Dean Powers and roughly 150 other people

from listening to U.S. presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich speak

on campus Thursday.

“I wanted to support the Democratic cause and I think Kucinich

is a really noble guy,” said Powers, a senior English major. “He’s

out there pushing ideas.”

Powers said he was interested in what Kucinich had to say about

education. Powers said he did not understand why the United States

spends such large amounts of money on defense instead of

education.

“It’s astonishing how much we’re spending on defense and not

education,” Powers said.

Kucinich visited the university, in particular, to discuss the

financial issues surrounding higher education.

“I want to be at Colorado State because this is an institution

that has suffered, like all institutions, from lack of educational

funding,” Kucinich said. “I mean, we could have a country where

everyone is able to go to college tuition-free. We ought to really

do that.”

While Kucinich spoke, ROTC could be seen marching in the

distance.

“We have brave young men and women whose lives are on the line

right now, and they’re counting on us to bring them home,” Kucinich

said. “How are we going to bring our troops home?”

Kucinich said that while he realizes the nomination has been

decided, he continues his campaign in hopes of influencing the

Democratic Party’s platform.

“I think that people want to see the Democrats stand for

something, so this election means a lot,” Kucinich said. “…

because if the Democrats stood for something people would be lining

up to vote Democrat.”

Colorado’s caucus will be held on April 13. Then Colorado will

get to take a stance on Kucinich and his views.

“People in Colorado have a chance to say this is the direction

the Democratic Party should go in,” Kucinich said. “We know who the

nominee is. We don’t know the direction of the party, and I want to

help shape that.”

Kathay Rennels, Larimer County commissioner, said that although

she disagreed with Kucinich’s views, the university is a great

forum for discussion.

“People bring different opinions,” Rennels said. “It’s a free

country.”

Although Rennels was unable to attend Kucinich’s rally, she

encouraged people to test the validity of what Kucinich said.

“There’s a risk in throwing out accusations to an educated

population,” Rennels said. “It’s the population’s responsibility to

check into those accusations.”