 "Photo: Scott Yates - Staff Photographer")
Band members of Guster played politician as they participated in the kickoff event for the Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry in the Whittemore Center on Monday. Vocalist and guitarist Ryan Miller even stopped to pose with the baby in the audience, 17-month-old D.J. Bryant of Nashua who sported the band's T-shirt.
New Hampshire was the first stop on Kerry's college "Change begins with U" tour. The event was one part campaign rally and one part concert, as Kerry aimed at catching the attention of younger voters.
Kerry will visit the University of Rhode Island on Tuesday, the City College of New York City on Wednesday and the University of Pittsburg on Friday. Along the way entertainers, such Bon Jovi, and political figures, such as Hilary Rodham Clinton will join him on stage.
Music To Move the Voters
Guster got hooked up with the Kerry campaign through band member Adam Gardner's former college roommate whose friend works on the campaign, Gardner said.
The band has previously stayed out of political issues because "it's just hard to make a statement and intelligently back it up," he said. However, the choice was clearer in this election, and the issue was not so hazy.
"It's black and white," he said. "I think all of us could very clearly say we are going to support Kerry."
Miller said that on their bus ride they discussed the possibility of their music influencing voters.
"For me, I wanted to feel I was doing what I could to support the campaign - it's more a personal feeling of empowerment," Miller said.
UNH graduate Ed Aten opened for Guster, who happens to be his favorite band, playing some of his own music as well as some covers.
Later, when Guster took the stage, Miller addressed the audience.
"We're Guster, and this is our first political event. And we're really proud to be here," Miller said as they started to play.
But after the band finished playing three songs, nearly 45 minutes passed before Kerry arrived. Some became impatient, and the crowd on the floor dwindled.
"I got out of an exam early to come to this and then missed a quiz," said freshman Megan Miller. "I want to see what Kerry has to say, [but] they're going to lose a lot of people if they don't start soon."
Jennifer Casey said she thought the delay showed poor planning for the event.
"I've heard a lot of kids saying they need to get to class, and I just feel bad because it's probably not his fault" said Casey, a resident of Kingston, N.H. who came as a fan of Guster and a supporter of Kerry. She said the distraction of the delay could disillusion students and deter them from attending future rallies.
"I just hope for his sake he comes out soon," she said.
Kerry's Plan For Change
As some people waited up to three hours for the show to start, they amused themselves by clapping inflatable "Bush whackers" together in beat to the music over the speakers. When Sen. Kerry finally arrived, the roar of the audience drowned out all other noise as he walked up to the stage, shaking hands with some along his way.
Former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen exposed part of Kerry's more personal side.
"How many of you know that John Kerry used to be in a rock band?" she asked. "I was hoping Guster was going to lend him a guitar."
Before Guster's performance, band members asked an event organizer if Kerry could be on stage with them. However, the organizer said he could not because of a recent operation.
UNH for Kerry President Meg McPherson introduced Kerry saying, "He will be a president who fights for our generation, who tells us the truth and who calls us to serve."
"There's a lot of energy here," Kerry said as he stood underneath a huge American flag that was draped above him. "We wanted to [hold the rally] at an hour when you were still awake."
In his 30-minute speech, he pinpointed the wrongdoings of the Bush administration and enforced his own commitment to health care reform, environmental issues, tuition costs for students and job outlooks for the country. All of these are topics that he felt hit home for college students.
"The American economy is not working for [American workers], they're working for the economy," he said after saying that no president since Herbert Hoover in the Great Depression has lost jobs the way Bush has.
"This college tour helps us mark the beginning of the end of the Bush administration," he said to wild applause from the crowd.
The senator addressed the cost of tuition by explaining his tuition for service plan, in which in exchange for two years of community service the government would pay a student four years of in-state tuition at a public university. He recognized that the cost of doing this could be high.
"I'm going to put out a budget that's realistic," Kerry said.
Citing health care problems in the United States, he talked about 4 million people losing health insurance under the Bush administration. Kerry said he has a plan to change this.
"When I am president I will put in place the principle that every person's health care is as important as any politicians in Washington, D.C.," Kerry said.
According to the senator, environmental care has decreased under the Bush administration significantly. He explained his plan to create more jobs in America by encouraging development in environmental conservation and discovery.
He also addressed foreign policy, saying that the United States "needs a president who understands truly that we go to war as a last resort."
The senator talked about his own experiences in the armed services during the Vietnam War and his effort to fight against the war when he came back to the country. He compared the protestors of the 1960s and 1970s to young voters today and the power that they hold for creating change.
"A democracy depends on you," Kerry said. "You are the voters... you are the ones that can make this happen."
When he ended his talk, U2's "Beautiful Day" blasted from the speakers as red, white and blue confetti filled the air in front of the stage.
From flip-flops to autographs
Not every member of the crowd was enthusiastic about Kerry's talk.
When Kerry started to talk about job outsourcing and his plan to take away benefits to any company that takes jobs out of the country, a group of about seven men in the crowd, some of them members of UNH College Republicans and three who came down from Maine to protest the event, smacked pairs of flip flops together and chanted "flip-flop" until they were escorted out of the arena by security.
After the event, Bush supporter Dan Schuberth, state chairman of the Maine College Republicans, said the flip-flop expression was appropriate because "you can't get a straight story out of the guy," referring to changes in his stances on important issues.
Kerry responded, "I'll make a deal with you," he said. "I'll send people to George Bush's rallies, and they can bang their unemployment checks together."
UNH College Republican Lindsay Straw, who was refused admission to the event, said, "From what I heard [Kerry] got very flustered." She said she would have expected a more "professional and dignified" response from a senator.
Other students in attendance said the concert/rally overall was a success.
The event showed that Kerry was trying to get out and appeal to younger voters, said Andy Baldacci, a high school student from Bangor High in Maine who came down to see Kerry and Guster. Music can play an "integral role" in getting the political message out to younger voters, he said.
"I think it's an effective strategy, but I think it's providing a false image of why people are truly here," sophomore Todd Derbyshire said.
The efforts of the campaign workers to pull the rally together were effective for a member of the College Democrats and volunteer Riley Ohlson, a senior at UNH.
"I think music has been a huge vehicle of social change, and it's just natural to go with the Democrats," Ohlson said as he waited for members of Guster to autograph a Kerry sign he was bringing back to his roommate.
McPherson was pleased with the turnout. "Everybody was enthusiastic," she said.
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