Gubernatorial hopeful Larry Owen stressed the importance that maintaining party unity during the 1998 Democratic primary will have for a victory in the next election when he spoke last night to the campus College Democrats.
"We win only when we stop quarreling with one another and mass all of our resources," Owen said.
Owen, a front-runner in the Democratic primary according to recent polls, said that if the Democratic candidates spend millions of dollars competing against each other during the primary season, it will be difficult for the party to win the general election campaign.
"I am begging for a consensus by late 1997 or early 1998," Owen said. "I hope there's a coming-together of people who want to elect a Democrat."
Owen said he expects that the November 1998 election campaign will cost about $8 million per candidate, so a costly primary campaign would be detrimental for the general election.
"It takes a long time to get that money together - if you're a Democrat," Owen said.
Jae Jae Spoon, chair of the campus College Democrats, said the group is giving the candidates a forum for their views.
"We don't endorse a candidate in the primaries," Spoon said. "We will definitely act as a liaison between the campaigns and the student body."
Besides talking about politics within the Democratic Party, Owen spoke about partisan politics and the basic differences between Democrats and Republicans.
"With the current Republicans, you see a resurgence of the kind of philosophy that is biased to owners and capital and makes them free of government intervention," Owen said. "Now the Christian Coalition is getting into tax policy. They believe government involvment should be big when it gets into personal life, but small when it gets into your economic life."
Although Democrats have won recent elections both locally and nationally, Owen said they still have a long way to go.
"We're in a critical phase," Owen said. "The presidential election was a victory, but it isn't done."
But Owen showed hope for a Democratic victory.
"(Gov.) John Engler is not unbeatable if he runs," Owen said. "The current numbers on Engler are moving in our direction. His job approval rating is 52 percent."
In Owen's opinion, education is one of the top state issues and the public is not pleased with Engler's performance in that area.
"People don't agree with his philosophy that the free market is the solution for education problems," Owen said.
Owen ran for governor in 1994 and placed second in the Democratic primaries.
His past experience in politics includes serving as mayor of East Lansing, chair of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees and as an adviser to former Gov. James Blanchard.