The 2008 Presidential Election came to Saint Louis University Saturday, Sept. 6, when Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean brought the multi-state “Register for Change” tour to campus. He spoke to a crowd of about 100 people, the largest crowd of the tour in Missouri.

Dean was hosted by the Young Democrats of Missouri. The crowd consisted of students from SLU, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

“This election is about you, it’s about your generation,” Dean said to the crowd. “This is your time to make change, to stand up and be heard. the difference in Missouri will be less than 50,000 votes.”

Dean also asked the students in the crowd to canvas, or campaign door-to-door, in support of their chosen candidate. He recalled how his own political career had been based on the grass roots movement in politics. Dean ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and has endorsed Sen. Obama for president.

Volunteers from the Obama campaign were on hand to register students to vote. SLU College Democrats President Lauren Khouri hoped that SLU students would heed Dean’s message and go to the polls in November.

“Gov. Dean’s message was clear and encouraging,” Khouri said. “Our generation holds the power in this election and its going to take our energy, time, and most importantly, our vote on Nov. 4 to move Missouri and our nation.”