Howard Dean’s blunt, red-faced, rolled-up-sleeves style of campaigning has caused college students around the country to rally behind the former Vermont governor with a zeal his competitors should take notice of.

Dean’s following, which some political scientists have compared to 1960s-style campus activism, is in full swing at Iowa State as well as other campuses throughout the nation. He visited the University of Iowa on Oct. 5 and spoke to a crowd of more than 1,000 students and spectators.

Today, ISU students who support Dean will gather to form a “flash mob” at 12:30 p.m. in front of the Hub.

On Thursday, Dean supporters plan to go bar-hopping for the “Dean Bar Crawl and Voter Registration Night.”

Supporters who are 21 and older will visit the bars to register voters and give Dean supporters more information. The goal is to reach all of the bars on Welch Avenue, said Joel Taylor, president of Cyclones for Dean.

“We wanted to register voters in the bars, because it’s an easy way to target many students at once,” he said.

These ISU students are an arm of the Dean campaign called “Generation Dean.” The organization has enrolled college students, high school students and young professionals in 650 chapters across the nation, according to reports by CNN.

Credit must go to Dean for paying attention to younger voters, who have a reputation of being apathetic at best when it comes to participating in elections.

Few of Dean’s competitors, with the exceptions of Wesley Clark and Dennis Kucinich, have focused on young voters or issues closely tied to them at all.

Dean’s up-front, outspoken style has appealed to many college students, who typically perceive the other Democratic candidates as little more than suits and ties.

Even if you don’t support Dean, his efforts to reach college students are admirable.

As Dean steps up his efforts to court younger voters, he enlivens the political process in a significant way.

By focusing on the younger demographic, Dean is encouraging typically lethargic voters to get involved with the political process.

He’s also bringing issues to the forefront that are affecting students, while most of the other Democratic candidates have cast them by the wayside or not even approached them.

Dean has made larger issues relevant to the average college student. Most importantly, he hasn’t ignored younger voters.

The other candidates should also consider not snubbing the student vote, which will likely figure prominently in the 2004 election.