Penn Democrats unite to support Kerry candidacy

And then there was one.

Super Tuesday knocked Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry's most viable opponent in the Democratic primary elections -- North Carolina Sen. John Edwards -- out of the race.

But as the candidate pool has dwindled over the past month, Penn students who did not originally throw their support behind the current party front-runner have slowly begun to shift their allegiances to the candidates.

Democrats are more united now than they have been in a long time, Penn Democrats President Rich Eisenberg said.

"I think that will be the case on our campus as well as throughout the country."

Representatives from Penn student organizations who have campaigned for former Gen. Wesley Clark, Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich all said they would support the eventual candidate of the Democratic party .

The groups have disbanded, and Eisenberg said there are plans to establish a relationship between the Penn for Kerry organization and the Penn Democrats. However, no formal plans have been made, and many of the members of groups who are endorsing other presidential hopefuls remain loyal to their previous candidate.

Penn for Dean members have been given the option of joining the citywide division of the candidate's organization but have stopped campaigning on campus.

We "want to come together behind the [official party] nominee," group member and College sophomore Conor Lamb said.

Lamb was pleased to see Dean achieve a victory in his home state on Tuesday.

"Something like that probably made him feel better," Lamb said. "I don't think it hurts Senator Kerry at all."

Lamb said that he had "worked for Dean for too long to make the switch" to working as hard for Kerry but that he will support the senator in November.

"Kerry sounds a lot right now like Dean did two months ago," he said, noting the way that Dean's grassroots campaign and efforts to reach out to voters had shaped the course of the primaries in the early states.

While Lamb said there was not much sense to having Dean, another New Englander, on the ticket as Kerry's vice president -- a view with which Dean himself agreed -- other organizations are hoping to see their candidate win the vice-presidentialnomin- ation.

College sophomore Brian Levy, who worked on Gephardt's campaign, said the representative would gain support for the Democratic ticket from Midwestern states.

Kucinich supporters also hope to see their candidate win the vice presidential spot on the ticket, said College sophomore Alex Perkins, who worked on the Kucinich campaign.

Some did feel that the organization of the primary election is unfair.

"As a New Jersey voter, I'm horrified," Levy said. "It's unfair to a solidly Democratic state" to have to vote on June 8, after the nominee has effectively been decided.

Still, "there's nothing wrong with front-loading and having a nominee if we as Democrats think that will make a stronger general election candidate," he said. "Whoever won Iowa was going to come out really strong."

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