How about Dr. Dean’s chances?

Sidd Pattanayak sp32@bu.edu 617-620-2939 BU Law ’04 (If you have any questions about the statistics I listed, feel free to call or email me.)

Dear Editor, I’m writing in response to Shreema Meeta’s article entitled “BU Profs consider Kerry’s chances.” The author named some of Senator Kerry’s other rivals, but perhaps should have given “equal time” to the one candidate that has already amassed a sizable student following, both here in Boston and nationwide: former Vermont Governor Dr. Howard Dean. I am one of many students at BU, and at Boston area schools who believe that Governor Dean should be the Democratic candidate in 2004. “Students for Dean” groups have either been or will be formed at Harvard, Northeastern, Tufts, Emerson, and here at BU, just to name a few. A national Students for Dean group includes 81 local chapters at colleges and universities across the nation. A number of us have already been out on the campaign trail supporting Governor Dean, going to the recent New Hampshire Democratic Convention last month, and holding a rally at the JFK Library when Dr. Dean spoke there in March to a standing-room-only audience of 600 people. And through the Meetup.com website, we are among over 15,000 people across the nation who meet on the first Wednesday of every month to organize grassroots events supporting Governor Dean. We go to rallies and shiver out in the cold in Manchester, attend monthly meetings with other Dean grassroots supporters, and try to talk up the Governor with our friends and family, because frankly Dr. Dean seems to be the only candidate who is directly addressing the problems that young people face. To be blunt (as Dr. Dean often is), how’s another tax cut going to help graduating students obtain jobs and adequate health insurance coverage in this terrible economy? How are we supposed to have diversity at BU if Republicans (and even a couple of Democratic candidates) have suggested in the past that we should reconsider, or even eliminate affirmative action? Can we feel safe when the current Administration pushes for war in Iraq but refuses to adequately fund our cops, firefighters, and first responders whose brethren acted so heroically on 9/11? Dr. Dean has the answers to these questions, in the form of a platform that calls for balanced budgets, strident support for affirmative action, and an internationalist foreign policy that delegates money and efforts to our biggest homeland and foreign security threats (i.e. Al Qaeda and North Korea). Dr. Dean is a strong and decisive candidate who not only criticizes the current Administration like the rest of the Democratic hopefuls, but also provides concrete ideas of how to turn around our economy, health care policy, and foreign policy. The author was misleading in stating that Senator Kerry is leading in the polls. Dr. Dean has been in a virtual dead heat with Senator Kerry in the latest Franklin College New Hampshire polls over the last two months. The author’s failure to mention Governor Dean’s candidacy gives readers a distorted view of the current race. Perhaps the time has not come to rename Beantown “Deantown.” But many of us in the BU and student communities believe that come New Hampshire, Iowa and next year’s convention here in Beantown, the moniker change may be quite appropriate.

Sidd Pattanayak Law ’04 Co-chair, BU for Dean