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.”
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