Su takes his stumping to Taichung

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday went to Taichung County to campaign for Taichung county commissioner candidate Chiu Tai-san (邱太三), saying that Chiu's victory there would be a victory for the DPP everywhere.

Despite the scorching sun and a temperature of 38?C, the DPP's candidates for the year-end elections in Taichung County, party officials coming from Taipei and local supporters attended the campaign rally held in Fengyuan City (豐原) in Taichung County yesterday.

Hot and sweaty, Su made a speech in a hoarse, loud voice endorsing Chiu, saying that Chiu, who has had an impressive political career, will certainly make a contribution to Taichung County, where there has been no conspicuous progress under the Chinese Nationalist Party's incumbent, County Commissioner Huang Chung-shen (黃仲生).

"Chiu has experience working in local and central governments and has great communication skills, so I believe that he will be able to take advantage of abundant resources for Taichung County from the central government if he is elected," Su said.

In order to run for Taichung County Commissionership, Chiu resigned from his office of vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC). Before serving as the MAC spokesman, Chiu has served a legislator in Taichung County for eight years and was secretary to former Taichung County Commissioner Liao Yung-lai (廖永來).

According to Su, Chiu is now regarded by the DPP as one of the most promising and significant candidates in the year-end elections, as a victory in Taichung County could indicate a total triumph during the year-end elections.

Taichung County and City have been KMT turf for a long time, and the DPP has regularly failed to win support in those places in past elections.

The DPP's mayoral candidate for Taichung City, former Government Information Office director-general Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday also joined in the campaign rally to promote his candidacy, saying that he and Chiu would work together to improve the greater Taichung area if they are both elected.

Meanwhile, when asked about the water shortage in Taoyuan once again Su yesterday said that he was confident in Premier Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) ability to solve the water problem quickly and urged people to be patient about the process and encourage Hsieh, who has tried his best to deal with the water shortage.