DeStefano to Students: Help Me Change America

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DeStefano to Students: Help Me Change America

September 12, 2006

by Elizabeth Dickinson - New Haven Independent

Seeking to inject new energy into his trailing campaign for governor, Democrat John DeStefano urged a standing-room-only crowd of Yale students Tuesday night to get involved in changing the direction of the country -- by helping him beat Republican Gov. Jodi Rell in November.

"America is concerned about the direction of the last six years," DeStefano, New Haven's mayor, told the crowd in Yale's Branford College. "There's one state that is going to provide a leadership role, and that state is?"

The crowd roared: "Connecticut!"

"Two-thousand and six is going to start something in America that is going to finish with the presidential election in 2008. The more powerfully we speak about that this year in November in Connecticut, we can help set the stage," said DeStefano.

In the course of his 30-minute address and question-and-answer, DeStefano laid out a number of his goals for the governorship, including universal health care, a greener energy policy, education reform, and increased job creation. He said that under a DeStefano administration, a law would be passed in 2007 legalizing gay marriage.

In addition to speaking about his reforms, DeStefano focused his attention on recruiting the energy and influence of student Democrats. The Yale College Democrats hosted his talk.

DeStefano needs to light a fire under idealistic young people: He trailed incumbent Rell, by 32 points in the most recent Quinnipiac University poll. Moreover, much of DeStefano's would-be campaign energy has been eclipsed by the Lieberman-Lamont U.S. Senate race, which has captured the country's -- and the bulk of Connecticut idealistic activists' -- political imagination.

One student attending Monday evening's event, Lily Dorman, said, "He knows that Yale students have gotten involved in the past and hopes more will get involved." Dorman and other attendees suggested that pro-active students could help turn the race around.

DeStefano offered a host of opportunities for his younger party colleagues to return their energies to the gubernatorial race. "When we have change here, you will have the opportunity to be a part of that change," he said. "You not only get a chance to help win elections, you get a chance then to make something actually happen after the election."

DeStefano referred to another state university -- his alma mater -- in trying to inspire the Yalies to work for him. "In this state, UConn basketball is a really big deal. People get really excited about it," he said. "Let's be excited about closing the achievement gap [in education]. Let's be excited about universal health care."