Students rally for Fieger, Democrats

The band Kung Fu Diesel tried to energize the Union Ballroom crowd last night, but the 125 people did not come to life until the man everyone was waiting to see stepped into the room.

Sporting a blue blazer over a T-shirt featuring a picture of himself, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Geoffrey Fieger shook hands with crowd members as he walked to the microphone at the front of the stage. "What time is it?" Fieger yelled out. The crowd screamed back, "It's Fieger time!"

Fieger, a successful trial lawyer and Univeristy alumnus, said he was not the Democratic establishment's candidate of choice in the August primary elections and pollsters give him only a scant chance of victory in the November general election.

But Fieger, whose rise to fame began when he became assisted suicide advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian's attorney, said he was underestimated before the primary and is being discounted again.

"Every pollster said 'go home Geoffrey, you're rocking the boat,' but people came out and rocked the vote," Fieger said. "We attracted voters who have never even voted before.

"For the first time people knew there could be a government of, by and for the people," he said.

University alumnus Heather Bradley said Fieger will get her vote because politics as usual is no longer good enough.

"I think his methods are a little over the top, but I don't have a problem with that," Bradley said. "I feel that with the atmosphere of politics today, with all the corruption, Fieger is a nice change because he's honest, tells it like it is and is not playing games. People respect that."

Fieger quit his lucrative job to run for governor, he said, because he could no longer tolerate what Engler is doing to the people and natural resources of Michigan.

"I inhaled," Fieger said. "I got a drunk walking ticket here in Ann Arbor. And I don't recommend either.

"But that doesn't compare with closing mental hospitals. That doesn't compare with destroying the social safety net," he said.

Kelley Boland, chair of the campus chapter of College Democrats, said Fieger can be Michigan's next governor with a strong Democratic turnout.

"It's a matter of people listening to him and not what Engler has to say about him," Boland said. "If (people) see him firsthand, they'll like what they see."

Not every person at the rally was there to hear Fieger's stances on the issues.

First-year Law student Marcus Sprow laughed as Fieger began his speech and said he attended the event for its entertainment value alone.

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