Who is Howard Dean? With flyers littered across the campus,Students for Dean want to make sure University of Memphis studentsknow.
Dean is a former Vermont governor and one of nine candidatesrunning for the Democratic nomination for president.
Dean's biggest problem is name recognition, said Will Radford,senior political science major and founder of The University ofMemphis chapter of Students for Dean.
But that shouldn't be a problem too much longer. When Deangraced the covers of both Newsweek and Time in the same week, hismomentum soared. He has raised record amounts of funds over theInternet, and he currently leads in the polls in the first twostates to vote -- Iowa and New Hampshire.
The Dean campaign has also taken advantage of "meet ups," anInternet phenomenon that allows people with the same interests tomeet at a chosen place and converse. The next meet up for Dean inMemphis will be tonight at the Java Cabana in the Cooper Young areaat 7 p.m.
Part of Dean's appeal among Democrats is his staunch adversarialstance against President George W. Bush. He was against the warwith Iraq from the start, and he disagrees with the president onvirtually everything else, including the economy, health care,abortion and the environment.
However, according to some Republicans, Dean's beliefs may bejust the thing to ensure he loses the presidential race, ifnominated.
"I would love for Dean to get the Democratic nomination. I'd beelated," said Andrew McGarrity, president of the CollegeRepublicans.
McGarrity said Dean would be the easiest candidate for PresidentBush to beat because "he's the farthest left of all thecandidates."
If nominated, Dean will face a popular president with areputation for being tough on terrorism. Dean argues that he's "nopacifist," but the stigma of being against the war in Iraq may hurthim, McGarrity said.
"More Americans are center-right than far left," McGarrity said."National security is so important right now, and Dean is weakthere."
But Radford takes a different view. He says the war with Iraqwas started on false premises, and that it took the focus offAfghanistan.
Although many supporters of Dean -- or opponents of Bush -- areenthralled with his anti-Bush rhetoric, Radford maintains that thecampaign is fueled by hope, not anger.
"There's a lot to hate in politics," Radford said. "Dean issomething to like."
Though Dean has currently established himself as thefront-runner among Democrats, there is some talk of him peaking tooearly. The first primaries are not until January, which leavesplenty of time for Dean to falter, giving way to one of the othertop candidates, or possibly leaving an opening for New York Sen.Hillary Clinton (D) or retired Gen. Wesley Clark to enter therace.
But Radford says he is not worried about this prospect.
"The people of America put him where he is," Radford said. "Thepeople who are with Dean now will stay with him."
Still, Radford, a lifelong Democrat, vows to vote for whoeverthe Democratic candidate turns out to be.
"The most important thing is to replace Bush," he said.
Although for different reasons, Radford and McGarrity seem toagree on one thing -- they both want Howard Dean to be theDemocratic nominee for president.
