Howard Dean speaks at UCLA

Howard Dean addressed students at UCLA on Wednesday, in a lecture hall filled to its capacity of 227. Check out the article in the Daily Bruin, which has a great smiling picture of Howard Dean.

The event, put on by the Bruin Democrats, consisted of a 20-minute speech and a 20-minute Q-and-A session, and is one of the many college stops Dean has made.

After six years without a Democratic president and with the current Republican majority in legislature, Dean said the Democratic Party needs a change - it must adjust to a new generation of people "who want to do politics differently."

He described the idea of identity politics: Although a party is made up of different groups with different identities, what brings them together is a common agenda.

But what Dean's generation considers "common," he said, has changed with time. So the party's tactics must as well.

As part of the change, Dean said the Democratic Party is trying to appeal to typically non-Democratic communities, such as Southern states - which the party "gave up" on in the past two elections, he said.

According to Dean, the new agenda includes a stronger health care plan that will "benefit everybody in the country, just like 36 other countries have." Dean also mentioned more affordable higher education and more jobs that will stay within the country.

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