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Thursday,
October 26, 2000
Nader
coming to UI Friday
By
Michael
Knock
Iowa
City Press-Citizen
Green Party presidential nominee Ralph Nader will campaign in
Iowa City on Friday.
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Sanchez
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Nader
will speak at 6:30 p.m. at the Main Lounge of the University
of Iowa Memorial Union. It will be Nader's first visit to Iowa
City.
"We
don't know why he picked Iowa City for this event," said Martin
Sanchez, a member of the UI group Students for Nader. "He chose
us over Des Moines and Cedar Rapids."
Iowa
law requires a party to win at least 2 percent of the vote to
gain official status. Sanchez said that support for Nader at
UI probably tipped the balance in Nader's decision to visit
Iowa City.
"He
has double-digit support among first-time voters," Sanchez said.
"Colleges have been where he's gotten the most support."
Holly
Hart of the Iowa City Green Party said she was surprised when
she learned Sunday night that Nader might be coming to town.
"The
truth is, we didn't think he'd come here," Hart said. "We thought
he was focusing on the main population centers across the country.
Maybe he decided to come to Iowa because he knows the Greens
have a decent shot at getting ballot status here."
Sanchez
said UI's Students for Nader group, which was organized in August,
has 20 active members. However, up to 50 people have turned
out for group events such as their "Funeral for Democracy" on
Oct. 17, which was held to protest Nader's exclusion from the
presidential debates.
Carolyn
McConnell of Students for Nader said that Nader appeals to her
"better nature," which she thinks makes him attractive to younger
voters.
"It's
exciting to vote hopefully rather than fearfully," McConnell
said. "Nader's been drawing bigger crowds than any other candidate.
A lot of those people are young, and I think it's the hopefulness
of his message that they like."
That
message includes a $10 an hour minimum wage, and end to corporate
welfare, and end to anti-union laws and free public university
education.
"It
may sound like a pipe dream," McConnell said of Nader's promise
of free higher education, "but if we eliminate our military
presence in Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, we'll save $70
billion. It would only cost $32 billion to give every student
at a public university free tuition."
Friday's
event is free to the public, though Students for Nader and the
Iowa City Green Party will be collecting a free-will donation.
Let
us know what you think of this story...
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