U.S. House candidate campaigns at concert
Duane Burghard spoke against the war in Iraq during the Summerfest.
Published Sept. 22, 2006
Concertgoers got more than just music when they arrived at the Ninth Street Summerfest concert Wednesday night. Volunteers for Duane Burghard's U.S. House campaign were registering voters, and Burghard took the stage to bring a message to the crowd.
"They asked me if I was interested in sacrificing bodies, manpower and resources to go register voters, which is really important," Burghard said. "And they were like, 'By the way, Guster is going to be there,' and I was like, 'Heck yeah.'"
Burghard's campaign manager Jane Whitesides said many students don't realize they can register to vote in Boone County.
"This is a good event for us to let students know they can register to vote locally," Whitesides said. "Everyone's vote is important. We need more young people to vote, and sometimes people think it's too hard to vote absentee. It's important to realize you can vote in your own neighborhood."
Whitesides said the Burghard campaign had seven volunteers at the concert — two of which were college students. There was also a high school student and some non-students working to register voters.
Between Nada Surf, and the main act, Guster, Burghard took the stage to address the crowd. He not only talked about the importance of voting, but he also attacked the war in Iraq.
Burghard said he heard reports that a senior CIA official in Europe told the White House in 2003 that there wasn't intelligence to justify going to war in Iraq.
"They said, 'We don't care, this isn't about intelligence anymore,'" Burghard said. "I said, 'This isn't an intelligence failure. It's a failure to be intelligent.' This is just one more time that this administration has lied to the people. I wish there was a more delicate or politically correct way to say that, but there's not."
Scott Baker, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, R-Mo., the incumbent Burghard is challenging, said Burghard's comments contain "lots of style but not much substance."
"What he didn't tell you was the CIA source got his info from one of Saddam Hussein's government officials, which is not the most trustworthy source," Baker said.
Burghard is the Democratic candidate for Missouri's 9th district U.S. House of Representatives seat. He faces Hulshof and Libertarian candidate Steven Hedrick in the November election.
