Howard Dean rallies University of Michigan students to fight to keep Democrats in office this November

With less than two months to go until the Nov. 2 election, Dean urged the crowd gathered at Rackham Auditorium in Ann Arbor to sign up to volunteer for the campaigns of Democratic Congressmen John Dingell, Mark Schauer and Gary Peters.

Howard Dean told the crowd of mostly University of Michigan students they need to mobilize if Democrats are going to stay in office this year.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

"This is not joking around time anymore," Dean said. "People don't think the Congressional elections matter. But if you want to get something done like fixing the student loans thing or getting your health insurance taken care of when you graduate here, these guys have got to come back."

With the economy slow to recover and President Barack Obama's approval rating falling, Democrats are expected to have a tough time getting through this year's midterm elections. Dean predicts the Democratic Party will retain a narrow majority in the U.S. House — perhaps as small as a five- or 10-seat majority.

"Let me tell you how starkly different things would be if the Republicans win this," Dean said. "When I go to Arizona, which I plan to do this spring, I'm going to have to bring my passport — because in Arizona, the law signed by the Republican governor and passed by the Republican Legislature requires every American to have to show their papers if the police want. That is the law today in Arizona. That is the Republican vision for what's right about America. I don't think so."

Wednesday's "Moving Michigan Forward" rally was hosted by the College Democrats at the University of Michigan. Organizers estimated nearly 800 people were in attendance.

Dean repeatedly praised Obama, calling him the president of a new generation — much like John F. Kennedy was back in the early 1960s. But Dean acknowledged Obama's plunging popularity and said he hasn't agreed with the president on everything.

"There are Democrats who are disaffected. I wasn't that happy with the health care bill — I thought we should have done more," Dean said.

"I think one of the problems that the president (has) run in to is he really is a nonpartisan person," he added. "There are not many in Washington, but he is one. And he had really hoped that the Republicans might actually be interested in helping the country instead of just helping the Republican Party. He was sorely disappointed."

Dean painted Republicans with a broad brush, calling them "ideologues" who don't care about the facts and "can make up anything." He called Fox News a Republican "propaganda organization" and suggested that certain Republicans support racism, hate-mongering and unfair treatment of minorities and homosexuals.

"You voted for Barack Obama because he looks like your generation," Dean said. "Your generation has gay friends, and aren't you sick of the anti-gay rhetoric of the Republican Party? Your generation has friends of all different kinds of colors, and aren't you sick of people who go after Hispanics whether they're American or not?"

U.S. Congressman Mark Schauer, whose district covers parts of Washtenaw County, gave an enthusiastic speech that was well-received by Wednesday's crowd in Ann Arbor.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

Dean's message was well-received by the cheering crowd. He told students in the audience that the Republicans would love to take away their right to vote if they could.

"If they're willing to ask you for your papers to prove that you're an American citizen when you go into Arizona, they're willing to take away your right to vote," he said. "And don't think they won't do it, because the Republicans of Michigan tried to do it when they said your ID card at the polls had to be the same address as your driver's license."

Dingell, Schauer and Peters took turns speaking before Dean took the stage. Dingell, D-Dearborn, has been in Congress for 55 years and, although favored to retain his seat in November, a recent poll suggests he might be vulnerable to Republican challenger Rob Steele.

"I am proud of what I see before me: enthusiasm, zest, and determination to win," Dingell said. "And when those cock-eyed pollsters take a look at what you're doing and saying and thinking, and how you're behaving, and how you're going to work and lead us in the fall, they're going to understand they're just more than a little bit wrong."

Schauer, D-Battle Creek, and Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, face tougher challenges in November. Both are first-term Congressmen who rode the 2008 Obama wave to victory over Republicans in their respective Congressional districts.

"Here's the question: Are you ready to fight for your country?" Schauer asked the crowd Wednesday night, getting a roaring response. "Are you ready to fight for this great state of Michigan on Nov. 2? Are you going to vote? Are you going to volunteer?"

Schauer reminded the crowd that every vote counts.

"You aren't old enough to remember this, but John F. Kennedy, who announced his idea of the Peace Corps on this campus during his campaign in 1960, won the presidency a year before I was born by the equivalent of one vote per precinct in this country," he said. "It matters."

U.S. Congressman Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, addresses the crowd Wednesday night as Dean and Schauer look on.

Ryan J. Stanton | AnnArbor.com

Each speaker took turns taking shots at the GOP.

"Now the Republicans have learned a little about change and they're talking about taking the country back, and I wanted to ask, 'Back to what?'" Dingell said. "Back to Bush? Back to Hoover? Back to 1900? Back to Louis the 13th? Not if we have anything to say about it.

"This country is going to move forward, whether the Republicans like it or not, and we're going to drag them kicking and screaming into the 21st century."

Schauer said education funding and programs like Medicare and Social Security are at risk if the Republicans take control of Congress. Schauer ousted Republican Congressman Tim Walberg two years ago and hopes to fend him off in a rematch in November.

"I believe — the Democrats believe — that we must invest in education," Schauer said. "Tim Walberg, for heaven's sakes, in his first term in Congress — his only term in Congress, and we're going to keep it that way — was the only member of the Education and Labor Committee to vote against continuing Head Start. How do you do that? He voted against Pell Grants and aid for college students. I don't understand."

Dean left the crowd with a few lasting words.

"Every day, you've got to do something for your community, and that's what politics is. Politics isn't just going out and getting these guys elected," he said.

"You are sculpting the America that you now are going to leave to your children when you are my age. You think about that. Everything is on the table."

Ryan J. Stanton covers government and politics for AnnArbor.com. Reach him at ryanstanton@annarbor.com or 734-623-2529.