Presidential primary candidate Howard Dean told students Thursday to dispel the post-election notion that the Democratic party has weakened at its core.

?I do not intend to lie down and retreat and suddenly become a Republican because the wrong side won the election,? said Dean, a doctor and former governor of Vermont.

Contrary to the American media?s suggestions, the Democrat party does not need to become ?Republican lite,? Dean said to a student-packed Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. He said most voters worry about the same basic issues, and if Democratic candidates explain their beliefs in straightforward terms and appeal to citizens on a grassroots level, the voters will listen.

?We win by standing up for what we believe in,? Dean said. His speech, sponsored by College Democrats, emphasized a refusal to be cowed by the results of last week?s election.

Republican candidates consistently run for office on a moral platform of ?guns, God, gays and abortion? because they cannot speak to many Americans? real concerns ? public education, job security, health insurance and a moral foreign policy, Dean said.

?What about the morality of leaving our debt to our children?? Dean asked. ?What about the morality of 10 million children going to bed hungry every night in the greatest nation on the earth??

Democrats should not compromise their beliefs to win more widespread support, Dean said, because then party members will become virtually indistinguishable from Republicans.

?We are going to have a government that asks the best of us, and if it takes four years, or eight years, or 12 years, we will not go back,? he said to prolonged applause.

Democrats must also stay especially firm in their views to prevent Bush from replacing retiring Supreme Court justices with even more conservative nominees, Dean added.

?Who cares what the polls say if there?s a right-wing wacko in the Court?? he asked, while students cheered him on. ?The only thing standing between us and an even more awful court than the one we have, in terms of lack of courage, is 44 Democratic senators.?

Staying involved is crucial for overhaul of the flawed political system, Dean said, noting that his campaign did not have to pander to interest groups because so many people donated money and campaigned for him.

He encouraged students and community members to empower themselves by running for office, working for campaigns or financially supporting political candidates.

?This democracy is the most extraordinary system that has ever been devised by human beings, and like all things devised by human beings, it will fail if we don?t nurture it,? Dean said.

After Dean?s hour-long speech, Melissa Abad, a Weinberg senior, said she was hoping for more facts and less rhetoric.

?I think he brought up a lot of good points, but I need more substance,? Abad said. ?I want more recent information.?

But Lourdes Aceves, Weinberg ?04, said she did not think it was the time for Dean to go into detail.

?I think it was reaffirming for Democrats,? Aceves said. ?We?re wounded. I think he did what he was supposed to do today, which was give us hope.?

Reach Tina Peng at [email protected].