As “Super Tuesday” draws near, the Democratic
presidential candidates are traveling the country in a pull for
every last-minute vote.
The candidates have campaigned in a variety of arenas to gain as
large a portion as possible of the 1,410 delegates at stake from
the 10 states holding elections March 2.
The candidates made several appearances in California, which is
worth the most number of delegates at 440. Among the campaign
stops, two candidates, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Rep. Dennis
Kucinich, D-Ohio, visited the UCLA campus on Friday.
In their final joint appearance before the elections, Kerry,
Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., Kucinich and Rev. Al Sharpton
participated in a nationally televised debate Sunday. The debate
was held in New York, which, with 287 delegates, is second to
California in terms of number of votes for March 2.
The candidates took the opportunity to reaffirm their individual
platforms on issues including foreign policy and gay marriage.
Though all four candidates participated in the debate, it played
more as a forum for front-runners Kerry and Edwards to make their
cases for the presidency.
Edwards believes he provides the real-world perspective Kerry
lacks.
“The fundamental issue in this election is whether the
people of this country believe that we’re going to get change
that originates in Washington or change that has to come from out
here in the real world,” Edwards said.
But Kerry said Edwards has been a Washington insider for the
past five years. He also emphasized the benefits of the experience
he has garnered as a four-term senator.
“We’re going to need a president who has an
experience and a proven ability to be able to stand up and take on
tough fights,” Kerry said.
Edwards said even if he loses in all 10 states on Tuesday, he
will not drop out of the race.
Knowing they will soon be working toward the common goal of
getting a Democrat in the White House, the candidates attempted to
distinguish themselves without attacking each other.
Edwards detailed the differences between himself and Kerry on
trade, saying Kerry does not provide real solutions for working
Americans, instead burying trade agreements in bureaucracy.
Kerry replied by saying Edwards misrepresented his stance on
trade agreements and Kerry said he does care about the individual
workers.
Kucinich repeatedly attempted to set the war in Iraq as a point
of emphasis. He positioned himself as the only candidate present to
have voted against the war.
As Kerry and Edwards dominated the debate’s speaking time,
Sharpton lashed out against the event’s moderators for what
he believed to be favoritism for the two front-runners.
“What you’re trying to do is trying to decide for
the voters how they’re going to vote,” Sharpton said to
the moderators.
“The voters need to hear this morning from four
candidates,” he said.
Already shaping up to be a central issue in the elections, gay
marriage was also debated during the event.
Edwards said the federal government should recognize the
definition of marriage decided upon by each individual state. Gay
couples, he said, should have the same rights as straight couples,
but the state should decide whether to allow them to marry.
Kerry supports civil unions over gay marriage, but he, like
Edwards, said the emphasis should be placed on rights of the
individuals and not on the title of the relationship.
“I’m for rights, not for terminology or
status,” Kerry said.
“I believe that the rights ““ the spousal rights
““ the right of inheritance, the rights with respect to taxes,
the right with respect to visitation in a hospital … I’m
for those rights being afforded to every single American,”
Kerry said.
Earlier in the debate, each of the candidates discussed the
turmoil in Haiti as it relates to American foreign policy. Haiti is
currently in the midst of an uprising which caused dictatorial
leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide to resign and flee into exile
Sunday.
Kerry said though Aristide was largely responsible for the
situation in Haiti, the Bush administration should have acted
sooner to avoid the present distress. This, he said, was
representative of the current administration’s reluctance to
get involved in other countries until the situation reaches a
crisis level.
Edwards expressed a similar disdain for the handling of the
Haiti situation.
“We should have been engaged over a long period of time in
a serious way,” Edwards said, echoing Kerry’s
stance.
Kucinich focused less on the causes and more on his proposed
solution for Haiti. He advocated for the development of a
department of peace for Haiti and a reexamination of American
foreign policy.
“We need to take a prospective look at all of our
international relations,” Kucinich said.
Kerry also focused on foreign policy on Friday when he visited
the UCLA campus on a campaign stop.
With a crowd of college students eager to hear him speak and no
other candidates present, Kerry took the opportunity to go on the
offensive and attack the Bush administration’s handling of
the war in Iraq.
Kerry said Bush had “done too little in the war on
terror,” weakened the military by overextending it, and
failed to appropriately fund homeland security.
Kerry also lambasted Bush’s efforts with respect to
international relations.
“His unilateral doctrine has driven away important
allies,” Kerry said.
Though his speech centered on worldly issues, his appearance at
UCLA in the days leading up to Super Tuesday gave Kerry a chance to
appeal to college-age voters.
Over 500 students, faculty and community members gathered to
hear Kerry. More than half of them had to be turned away.
UCLA was visited by another of the candidates the same day, as
Kucinich also spoke to students.
Kucinich addressed the war in Iraq, criticizing the Bush
administration for claiming the war was imminent without providing
what he believed to be sufficient reason.
He also said the environment was suffering and the problems must
be addressed before the planet is robbed of its resources.
“We have a kind of toxic cocktail of chemicals and toxic
materials that will poison our planet,” Kucinich said. He
advocated a move away from many of the current sources of fuel and
toward natural and renewable resources.
With reports from Adam Foxman and Joyce Tang, Bruin
staff.