Mirror - Vol. 13, No. 08 - November 10, 1988

              The
Fairfield
Volume 13, No. 8MIRRORV Our Second Decade Thursday, November 10 1988 The Image of Fairfield
Bush Campaign Rolls into Fairfield
AnnMarie Puckhaber
News Editor
Republican Presidential
Candidate, George Bush, visited
Fairfield University on Friday,
November 8 as his last stop on the
campaign trail in Conneticut.
The appearance made by
Bush came as a result of efforts by
Todd Puglio and Mike Maxson,
officers of the College Republi-cans,
who invited Bush on several
occasions. The College Republi-cans
co-sponsored the event with
FUSA. FUSA distributed approxi-mately
2,700 tickets to University
students and 500 were given to
Prep students. Approximately
4,000 people attended the rally
which was held in Alumni Hall.
Crowds for the rally,
which consisted of both republi-can
supporters and democratic
protestors, started forming at 6
AM Friday morning. Bush was
expected to appear at 8:15, but did
not actually arrive until 8:35.
Frank Carroll, FUSA
President, began the rally by lead-ing
Bush supporters in a chant "We
want George!" and encouraging
the waving of signs. The Univer-sity's
cheerleaders, four student
bands, and bands from area high
schools also participated in stir-ring
up enthusiasm. The event was
covered by an estimated 150 re-porters
and photographers fromthe
national and local press.
Preceding Bush's appear-ance,
fellow republicans Senator
Lowell Weiker, Congressman
Christopher Shys, and First Se-lectwoman
Jackie Durrell also
addressed the rally crowd with
short comments supporting their
candidate. Bush's daughter was
also present at the rally to support
her father.
After a long wait, George
Bush appeared on the platform in
Alumni Hall and was vigorously
greeted. On viewing the large
crowd, Bush said that it is obvious
the "Bushmania and Stagmania go
well together."
In his speech, Bush at-tacked
Governor Michael Dukakis
for the loss of jobs in Massachu-setts,
increasing taxes, and raiding
the state pension plan to balance
the budget. He asked the audience
for a "mandate for mainstream
values of America."
Bush also received over-whelming
aplause when he held
up a Boston Herald headline that
read "What A Mess!" Bush asked
if the people wanted Dukakis to do
for the entire country what he has
done for Massachusetts. The crowd
voiced a loud "No."
Bush Speaks, Weicker and Durrell look on Photo: ■ Rich Nunziante
Vice President Bush Wins in Mock Election
Mark Dietz, Sean Leyden debate Photo: Rich Nunziante
Bill Murphy
Contributing Writer
On Tuesday, November
1, the Political Action League
sponsored a mock presidential
debate and election in the Campus
Center. Organized by the League
President Warren DiDonato and
Vice President Nancy DeRose, its
intent was to "create political
awareness on campus."
Eventually, the mock
debate and election gained even
more signifigance, as the real Bush
advance team cited it as the lead-ing
factor in Bush's decision to
visit the Fairfield campus.
The debate featured
Mark Dietz posing as Vice Presi-dent
George Bush and Sean Lei-den
as Governor Michael Dukakis.
Following the model of the real
presidential debates, the two an-swered
text questions posed by
panelists Sean Brady, Julie Mat-thei,
and Kathleen Eckenroad.
Although it was originally sched-uled
for 11:30 AM, the debate was
repeated at 1:00 PM, as the crowds
around the election grew.
The election itselfwas the
brainchild of DiDonato, who was
looking for a way to revitalize the
Politics Club. Since the objective
was to familiarize students with
voting process, obtaining real vot-ing
machines was a top priority.
Although the machines were hard
to come by so close to the real
election, Fred Voliera, the Athletic
Director at Fairfield High School
eventually provided them.
When the results were
tallied, 62% of the 295 votes were
for Bush, while Dukakis gathered
only 36%.
The event did achieve its
stated goal, but its signifigance
grew when Bush headquarters
decided to hold a send-off rally in
Connecticut. The choices were
narrowed down to the University
of Bridgeport and Fairfield Uni-versity,
but the election proved that
Fairfield would be a more enthusi-astic,
pro-Bush crowd, and the
decision was made to come here
instead.
Besides being mentioned
in Bush's speech, the election was
reported by New York Newsday,
The Daily News, The Bridgeport
Post, and The Cable News Net-work.
Lieberman Opposes Nuclear Arms/Advocates
Environmental Protection
John Keating
Contributing Writer
On Tuesday, October 25,
Joseph Lieberman, Connecticut
State Attorney General and Demo-cratic
candidate for the U.S. Sen-ate,
spoke about his arms control
policy at a lecture sponsored by the
international Relations Club and
the Young Democrats. Emerson
Briggs, President of the Interna-tional
Relations Club, introduced
the Attorney General.
Lieberman discussed his
"rather remarkable campaign" for
the United States Senate against
incumbent Lowell Weicker. He
stated that Weicker "should be
retired," attacking his priorities and
Senate absences. Lieberman hopes
to "deliver on things that matter to
you (the Connecticut resident)."
In his brief lecture on nu-clear
arms control, Lieberman
stressed his desire for a greater
level of trust between the Soviet
Union and the United States. He
accredited improved relations be-tween
the two super powers to the
change in Soviet leadership. He
proclaimed Gorbachev to be a
practical leader.
Lieberman understands that
"it's going to take some leader-ship,"
and a lot of negotiating
within the SALTII limits to achieve
his goal. He sees the Strategic
Defense Initiative as a "techno-logically
unfeasible" bad idea, and
wants an end to nuclear testing.
In place of nuclear arms,
Lieberman supports a strong con-ventional
defense. He wants the
United States to "remain strong,
effective and agile."
Another major issue in
Lieberman's campaign is environ-mental
protection. He has won the
endorsements of the Sierra Club,
Friends of the Earth, and the
League of Conservation Voters in
his quest for the Senate. The Clean
Air Act , Clean Water Act, and
garbage reduction are priorities in
Lieberman's campaign. "Some-thing
very dramatic is going on
here," said Lieberman in reference
to the severity of the nation's envi-ronmental
problems.
After his lecture, Lieberman
answered questions from the audi-ence.
He handled such issues as
student loan assistance, Contra
support, and the Palistinian prob-lem.
When asked about the budget
deficit and whether it was a prior-ity
of his, Lieberman replied, "I
don't panic about it."
Following the Lieberman's
lecture, International Relations
Club President Briggs stated "I was
very impressed by the breadth of
the ground covered." He contin-ued
by adding that he was "im-pressed
by the knowledge of the
students."
Another student, freshman
Patrick Foote, gave Lieberman "an
excellent shot at winning the Sen-ate
election." He felt Lieberman to
be "in touch with the issues that
affect the state."