Despite dropping out of the presidential race over two weeks ago, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean bagged the coveted Oberlin endorsement in his bid to become the Democratic presidential nominee.

The Mock Convention, an incarnation of an old Oberlin tradition dormant for over 30 years, descended on the Science Center commons last Saturday for an afternoon of political debate and even “Candidate Boxing,” in which Obies donned campaign t-shirts and oversized boxing gloves to fight in an inflatable ring.

The highlight of the day was the mock debate, in which Oberlin faculty impersonated the Demo-cratic candidates.

College President Nancy Dye played congressional gadfly and recent Oberlin campaigner Dennis Kucinich, going so far as to impersonate his now famous “no strings” spin which he performed at Finney Chapel.

Oberlin City Councilman Charles Peterson stepped into Al Sharpton’s three-piece suit to challenge the Democratic establishment. Politics Professor Eve Sandberg was more subdued as outspoken former senator and ambassador Carol Mosely Braun.

Sandberg’s colleague in the Politics Department, Harlan Wilson, seemed to relish reenacting John Edwards’ populist platitudes in his best Southern drawl.

Math professor Michael Henle was highly animated as the conservative Senator Joe Lieberman, even amidst occasional boos and hisses from the audience.

Sociology professor James Walsh spent the afternoon prior to the debate eagerly campaigning for his alter ego General Wesley Clark. History p;rofessor Steve Volk played real life front-runner John Kerry.

Howard Dean, the afternoon’s big winner, was given a new Anglicized flair by Politics professor Chris Howell.

The voting was done by state, each one represented by a student “delegate.” Voting continued until one candidate had gained a majority vote. After the first round Kerry held a comfortable lead, with Dean and Mosely-Braun moving on into the runoff.

After Mosely-Braun was soundly defeated in the second round, most of her delegates switched to Dean giving him a 26-25 victory over Kerry.

Mock Republicans were unavailable for comment.
–By Josh Keating