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Department of Communication

Cleveland State University became a rallying point for Democratic presidential candidates last week as Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Sen. John Edwards made stops in Ohio, getting out campaign messages before the “Super Tuesday” primary, March 2.

Kucinich held his rally outside the Music and Communications Building.

Kucinich attacked Democratic candidate John Kerry, saying that Kerry was wrong on trade, particularly on the The North American Free Trade Agreement, an issue that Kerry voted for.

“No one knows Ohio and Cleveland like I do,” said Kucinich, referring to the problem of job loss and unem-ployment that Ohio has struggled with, which some say is because of NAFTA. “I want to discontinue trade agreements such as NAFTA and give jobs back to people like you all, fellow Ohioans whose job was shipped out of the country.”

Following the rally, Kucinich met with Cleveland Stater staffers to discuss higher education, something Kucinich wants to make free.

“Everyone should have the right to go to college,” Kucinich said. “If you make the grade, you make the grade and then if you don’t, you don’t. But everyone should be able to go.”

But some have expressed the concern that if Kucinich implemented his plan, admissions standards would be discarded, creating an open door policy at all state-funded four-year colleges and universities.

“Admissions standards are an interesting idea. It implies that there’s a surplus of people competing for a certain number of spots,” Kucinich said. “I want to put everyone into the system and see if they can find their talents.”

Edwards spoke to a about 700 people at the Cole Center for Continuing Education, and unlike Kucinich, his message focused on issues affecting the country as a whole.

The enthusiastic crowd received a boost after the head of Howard Dean’s Ohio campaign said Dean’s Ohio supporters will shift their efforts to Edwards.

The senator addressed sev-eral issues after calling out Democratic front-runner, Massachusetts senator John Kerry, to a public debate on the issues.

Edwards painted the picture of himself as the underdog, yet delivered a message of optimism and change.

Edwards received enthusiastic yells from the crowd when he spoke about public school reform. He criticized Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” program, saying, “So much change is needed.

Edwards noted that White House reports indicating an economic upswing are being misinterpreted. “When he (Bush) talks about the economy doing well, he is talking about Wall Street,” Edwards said.

Edwards placed emphasis on ending American poverty, especially for those working full-time jobs who still can’t make ends meet. He assured the crowd that as president it would be his moral responsibility and the responsibility of the nation to lift Americans out of poverty.

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