Dean rallies partisans in Durham

Howard Dean, the Democratic Party chairman, tried to rally party spirits Tuesday in a city where Democrats typically come out the victors.

Dean, who tried unsuccessfully two years ago to win the party's presidential nomination, roused a crowd of nearly 300 people at Satisfaction, a restaurant and bar in Brightleaf Square. He marshaled enthusiasm from a smaller, but just as vocal crowd at Devine's, a saloon across the street.

Amid pleas for party money -- small checks, and lots of them -- Dean and the crowd got their licks in when they could on everything Republican that they dislike.

Dean, who took over as chairman of the National Democratic Party in February 2005, criticized the Bush administration's plans for health care, Social Security reform and the continuing war in Iraq. He urged Democrats to unite to reclaim the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate this election year.

After Dean left, much of the crowd stayed to jeer and boo at the TVs while Bush spoke. It was as if they were watching a heated college basketball matchup.

'He really needs to be held in check because he can't go through Congress and past Congress for this spying initiative that he has. It's not right. We have rights and privileges that are being violated by this president.'

-- ZACK HAWKINS, 26, a researcher at UNC-Chapel Hill who lives in Durham and is vice president of the Young Democrats of North Carolina

'It's pretty obvious that President Bush, despite what he says, has no intention of working across the aisle on everything from health care to entitlements to the war on terrorism.'

-- HIRSH SANDESARA, 21, a Duke University student majoring in chemistry and public policy

'He's just lost a lot of credibility with me so it's difficult for me to listen to his State of the Union address without a lot of skepticism. I don't have a lot of trust in what he says, and I hope that we can get through the next three years and look to having new leadership.'

-- JULIE MARTIN, 64, of Bahama