In front of a room filled with volunteers, students and senior citizens alike, presidential candidate Howard Dean touted his credentials, slammed special interest and President Bush, and called for the election of a Washington outsider at the Concourse Hotel and Governor's Club, 1 W. Dayton St., Monday morning.
Following his appearance in Madison, he traveled to Green Bay, where he announced he will stay in the race even if he loses Wisconsin's primary Feb. 17, despite prior remarks that he would drop out if defeated.
Calling the Bush administration a \wholly-owned subsidiary of special interest"" and proclaiming the powerful control the outcomes and leave the people with no say, Dean slammed lobbyist groups, claiming they impede the progressive mentality he believes Wisconsin has.
Dean again separated himself from the other five candidates vying for the Democratic presidential nomination by bashing those in Congress who failed to oppose Bush.
""Who's going to stand up for you? The person who stood up when it was the right thing to do, or the one who stood up when it was popular?"" he said.
In the speech, Dean flaunted his history as Governor of Vermont, proclaiming 99 percent of children under 18 have healthcare, children's literacy went up 43 percent and how he balanced Vermont's budget for 11 consecutive years.
Dean also returned to his familiar anti-war rhetoric in his speech, calling the recent war a ""unilateral, preemptive war on Iraq,"" and claiming Bush misled the American public.
""While George W. Bush and Dick Cheney cling to the claim Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, now members of the administration admit they're not there,"" Dean said. ""Rather than come clean, [Bush] sweeps it under a political rug.""
Unrelenting in his assault on Bush, Dean condemned the president's performance, saying ""No Child Left Behind"" leaves every child behind and noting unemployment in Wisconsin has gone up 28 percent since Bush left office. He added Bush is the first president to lose jobs since Herbert Hoover.
The crowd's reaction to Dean's speech was overwhelmingly positive, with the audience interrupting him with applause almost as often as U.S. senators and representatives interrupted Bush during his State of the Union address. Madison native Michael Fettiplace, 20, said he was very impressed with the speech.
""Very invigorating, hopping on the important subjects, making points of distinguishing himself, quite an inspiring speech,"" he said.
