“Dudes, dudettes,” Chad Stokes, lead singer of Dispatch and State Radio, said welcoming PSU students to the packed HUB Hage Room on Wed., 17, on behalf of Students for Obama.
Stokes came equipped with a vintage Taylor guitar and his trademark untamed beard. The Middlebury graduate and Massachusetts native played an hour long set, including classic Dispatch songs such as “Elias,” and “Flying Horses.”
The fans were not disappointed. “I have been waiting my entire life for this,” one eager fan told Stokes from the audience, “hearing you play acoustic was on my bucket list.”
Stokes smiled, “well, here we are,” he replied.
Besides a good show, Stokes wanted to relay his political call to action. Between the first songs Stoke said, “We need someone who knows, who came from a place of struggle, who knows what it’s like to be you and me, to be working days and nights to get your family by. Romney might be a good chief executive, but I don’t think that’s what the country needs.”
Stokes talked about his regrets from previous elections, “I don’t want to sit idly by and not do anything, I know that feeling in 2004 when Kerry lost, and when Gore lost. And to be up here in this crucial state of New Hampshire is exciting.”
With 20 days left until the election Stokes and members from Students For Obama encouraged full participation come Nov. 4, “That is my priority, to get people to vote, no matter who you’re voting for,” Stokes stated, “obviously I’m in the Obama camp… but we are in an exciting time and we can really make a difference.”
After the set, Ben Wessel along with his staff, urged PSU students to do all they can in the upcoming days. “If you aren’t registered, why not? There are no excuses.” Wessel continued, telling the crowd about voting registration, rides to the polls, and voting rights for students.
After the show Stokes posed for pictures and signed autographs, as members of the Obama team tried to gain volunteers for the final weeks of the presidential election.
“If we’re looking at those two candidates, I don’t think Romney can relate at all to the 99%,” said Stokes.
“Republicans are people too.” Stoke said, “I have to wake up and tell myself that every morning…. like 6 times.”
Stokes left with members of the Obama crew for another acoustic show at Dartmouth, hoping to energize other college voters in NH.