As a major city in one of the states for the March 7’s Super Tuesday primaries, St. Louis saw a flurry of presidential campaigning.
Republican presidential hopefuls George W. Bush and Alan Keyes visited Saint Louis University’s campus on March 1 and 5, respectively.
Democratic vice president Al Gore campaigned at the University of Missouri-St. Louis while Sen. John McCain, now withdrawn from the race, broadcast his participation in a debate with Bush and Keyes on March 2 from the KETC-Channel 9 station.
“This is an exciting time for us,” said Missouri senator Christopher “Kit” Bond, who serves as chairman of Bush’s election campaign in St. Louis. “This is the beginning of an exciting battle.”
Bush talked about a number of issues, focusing on education and the federal government’s role in making schools accountable for the performance of their students.
Bush called for “tangible evidence that educational reforms work” and said,
“You watch what’s going to happen when we expect the best for our children.”
Bush also discussed his plans for taxes and rebuilding the nation’s military power before fielding questions from the audience of more than 1,000. Topics included Bush’s stances on capital punishment, gun control, national debt, environmental issues, college tuition and controversy over his appearance at Bob Jones University.
“I can’t wait to restore dignity and trust [to the office of President of the United States],” Bush said. “In order to usher in an era of responsibility, we need a leader who knows the responsibility of the office.”
Junior Meghan Clune said that Bush’s visit helped to make a better-informed voter out of SLU students who attended. “It’s nice because most of what you hear are clips [on the news], and you don’t really have an accurate view of the candidate,” Clune said. “It was good to see that candidates are willing to cater to students and answer their questions and listen to them voice their concerns.”
Prior to Bush’s speech, members of Amnesty International passed out informational flyers on Bush and his death penalty stance to the crowd. The participants also held 120 paper cranes in remembrance of the 120 (now 121) people that have been executed since Bush became as governor of Texas. A candlelight vigil for the 121st victim, O’Dell Barnes, who was executed at 6 p.m. that afternoon, took place after Bush’s speech.
Amnesty International president Jenny Wiley stressed that this was not an official Amnesty event, and non-members joined those participating. “We wanted to take the opportunity to educate people about the death penalty, especially Governor Bush’s stance,” Wiley said.
Eric Sears, an Amnesty International member who coordinated the demonstration, said that Bush is “obviously a human rights violator because he allows an enormous amount” of executions.
“I think we did turn some heads because of the enormous numbers,” Sears added. “We achieved our goal, which was to raise awareness.”
Following Bush, Alan Keyes, a conservative Republican, also scheduled a stop at Saint Louis University on March 5. Keyes discussed a number of topics, including morality issues, abolishing income taxes, and gun control. Although the event occurred during Spring Break, a number of SLU students, along with members of the St. Louis community, attended the event in the Saint Louis Room in the Busch Memorial Center.
