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• New England 32 Carolina ^AMEGOGK ---------- - vol. 97, No. 59 MONDAY FEBRUARY 2, 2004 Since,m University of South Carolina MUINUm, www.dailygamecock.com 15 candidates get personal at Columbia forum BY JUSTIN CHAPPELL T11K UAMECOCK Six of the seven Democratic presidential candidates answered questions Friday morning in a fo rum at the Township Auditorium designed tc encourage dialogue •th America’s families. The Democratic hopefuls, ex cluding U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Connecticut, who skipped the event to campaign in Delaware, spoke in front of near ly 3,000 people about the economy, education and health care. U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina spoke of his south ern upbringing and experience with upstate textile mills. When asked by James Holloway, a re tired textile worker from Saluda, about the exporting of jobs, Edwards relied on his under standing of local issues and his southern drawl. “We’re so focused on free trade; there is no fair trade,” Edwards said. “I grew up the way you grew up.” The Rev. A1 Sharpton, who drew the loudest applause, said he would institute a two-year tax de ferment program that would help get businesses on their feet in stead of giving tax cuts to big busi nesses moving overseas. Regarding trade policy, “I got here as an African because of bad trade policy,” Sharpton said. U.S. Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts, the front-runner after winning in Iowa and New Hampshire, mentioned his expe rience in the Vietnam War as his connection to the audience and ex posure to poverty. “Most of the kids I was with in Vietnam came out of the south side of Chicago, south-central Los Angeles or the barrio,” Kerry said. Former governor of Vermont, Howard Dean, who described himself as “fiscally conservative and socially progressive,” pre sented a plan to make education obtainable. Dean said his $7 bil lion education program would give everyone the opportunity to go to college and that the pro gram has a built-in loan stipula tion that requires college gradu ates to repay no more them 10 per cent of their yearly income to ward the loan each year. Also presenting an education plan, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Ohio, said students could go to col lege for free with an $87 billion tax cut by repealing tax refunds to the wealthy and ending the war in Iraq. ♦ TOWNSHIP, SEE PAGE 4 —im ihihiiii ihi—i !■ m PHOTO BY KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean answers questions about his platform at Friday’s forum at the Township Auditorium. PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELL /THE GAMECOCK ^Rrlus Rucker and Mark Bryan of Hootle and the Blowfish perform in support of Sen. John Edwards, North Carolina, Friday at Jlllian’s Bar and Grill. Edwards receives singing endorsement at Hootie concert BY WES WOLFE THE GAMECOCK Hootie and the Blowfish made good on its endorsement of Sen. John Edwards for president, when the South Carolina band gave a fundraising performance Friday for an overflow crowd at Jillian’s Bar and Grill in Columbia. “I’ll be proud to have my good , friends Hootie and the Blowfish at my side in South Carolina head ing into February third,” Edwards said when the concert was an nounced on Jan. 9. “This is South Carolina’s band, and I intend to be South Carolina’s candidate come primary day.” There were so many people in attendance that only those who bought tickets before the concert were admitted. Admission wasn’t cheap, either. Student’s admission was $35, and the non-student min imum was $50; Contributions could reach the federal maximum of $2,000 to see the concert and Sen. Edwards. Preceding Sen. Edwards on the stage were College Democrats of America President Ashley Bell and Columbia Mayor Bob Coble. Edwards was also joined by his daughter, Cate, a 21-year-old Princeton student, and his par ents, Wallace and Bobbie. After Bell introduced Mayor Coble, Coble warmed up the gath ering by talking about Sen. Edwards’s connections to South Carolina. “John Edwards was born in South Carolina,” Mayor Coble said. “He grew up in a mill vil lage. He knows what it means to make South Carolina a great place.” Mayor Coble then introduced Edwards, who made his trade mark entrance by working from the back of the crowd,to the front, shaking hands and greeting peo ple while John Mellencamp’s “Small Town” played over the speakers. Edwards’s speech to the crowd was decidedly differ ent than what he said in his can didacy announcement at USC on ♦ EDWARDS, SEE PAGE 4 Voter program brings Declaration of Independence BY Z’ANNE COVELL TIIK (1AMECOCK Declare Yourself, a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to motivate young voters for the 2004 presidential election, will be visiting USC today at Davis Field from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. “We hope to encourage a whole population of voters to know they can facilitate change in their coun try,” associate director Aimee Jasculca said. “It’s really impor tant in an election year to energize voters, and we hope it will be very successful.” The event will showcase one of the 25 remaining original copies of the Declaration of Independence drafted July 4,1776. Declare Yourself founder and producer of sitcoms “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons,” Norman Lear, bought the copy in an online auction. Jasculca said the copy was orig inally found at a flea market be hind a picture in a frame. “A man bought the picture just because he liked it, and when he removed the frame, he found the Declaration of Independence,” Jasculca said. Lear was determined that if his bid were successful, he would share the historic document with the nation. “When I learned it was going to be auctioned, I thought if I could get it, it was going to travel,” Lear said. “It wasn’t going to just sit around. I wanted the people to see it.” Declare Yourself evolved from Lear’s Declaration of Independence Road Trip, a cross country tour of the auctioned copy. After seeing people’s re sponses to the tour, Lear decided to use his copy of the Declaration as an inspiration to voters. Declare Yourself particularly targets college-age voters to help them develop a lifetime habit of voting. “Our research shows if a per son votes at an early age, they are more likely to become a lifetime voter,” Lear said. ♦ DECLARE, SEE PAGE 4 Kerry boasts support BY MICHAEL LAFORGIA THE GAMECOCK U.S. Sen. John Kerry em- • phasized his military service in Vietnam when he spoke in the Russell House Ballroom Friday morning in an effort to drum up support before Tuesday’s primary. The Massachusetts senator upset some Southern Democrats in New Hampshire last week when he said in three speeches that candidates often make the “mistake” of concentrating on the South. When asked about the com ments during a debate in Greenville Thursday night, - Kerry denied using the word “mistake” and said he was talking about the mathematics of an election. wnen Kerry appeared in tne Russell House Friday, he was accompanied by the Veterans Brigade, a group of Vietnam veterans assembled to cam paign with the senator. Also on hand to support Kerry at USC were U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, Former U.S. Sen. 'Max Cleland, Georgia, and for mer College of Charleston President Alex Sanders. For his part, Hollings scoffed at those who labeled Kerry a “liberal from Massachusetts,” and took the opportunity to distinguish Kerry from Gen. Wesley Clark, who is also a veteran. “I want to emphasize right now I’m a Washington insid er,” Hollings said. “In South Carolina, we believe in insid ers.” Clark has emphasized that he is a political outsider while campaigning in South Carolina. Hollings also compared the Iraq situation to the Vietnam conflict. “We’re in trouble again — real trouble. It’s Vietnam all over again,” Hollings said. Cleland, who lost his legs and an arm while serving in V ietnam, said he feels a special connection with Kerry, be cause the two fought for the same cause. Also appearing to speak on Kerry’s behalf was the Rev. David Alston of South Carolina, who served on Kerry’s boat in Vietnam. When Kerry addressed the crowd, he praised his Southern supporters and told them he has relied on the Veterans’ Brigade to help his campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire. “These are the same band of brothers that I relied on 35 years ago, some of them,” Kerry said. “We may be a little bit older, we may be a little grayer, but we still know how to fight for this country.” Kerry also took the opportuni ty to praise the South for its ability to overcome past ad versity. If elected, Kerry said he would roll back the tax cut for those earning more than $200,000 a year, establish uni versal health care and crack ♦ KERRY, SEE PAGE 4 *, • ♦ PILGRIMAGE STAMPEDE 244 die in hajj to Saudi Arabia . FOR MORE SEE PAGE 5 ♦ CAR BOMB Nine Iraqis die L in bombing. Three U.S. f soldiers killed in separate incident. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 5 ♦ WELL-ADJUSTED John Tyler warns against judging home-schooled students. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 6 ♦ BALLOTS MATTER Why USC should give students a day off to vote. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 6 ♦ STICK IT TO ‘EM Students use bumper stickers to express allegiances. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 7 ♦ AT THE STATION The » .,, ., * Station Agent’ presents unique character study. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 7 ♦ BIG MAN 6-foot, 5-inch, 310-pound offensive lineman commits to USC. FOR MORE SEE PAGE 10 ♦ REBELLION Men's basketball upset by Ole Miss on the road. 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