Part pundit, part preacher and always the showman, "Fahrenheit 9/11" filmmaker Michael Moore yesterday brought his "Slacker Uprising Tour 2004" to Carnegie Mellon University.

	Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Michael Moore, director of "Fahrenheit 9/11," brandishes a copy of Bill O'Reilly's new book as he talks to students at Carnegie Mellon University yesterday. Moore was at the university as part of his "Slacker Uprising Tour," aimed at raising voter turnout. Click photo for larger image.

"Democracy is not a spectator sport, it's a participatory event," Moore told the 1,200 gathered in CMU's Wiegand Gymnasium. "I'm hoping the majority of you vote for John Kerry."

Pittsburgh was the 46th city on Moore's tour of 60 cities and 20 swing states, designed to get traditional nonvoters, including college students, to the polls Nov. 2.

"The 50 percent who don't vote generally are not the wealthy and the powerful," Moore said. "They are the working class, the single mothers and young people, and this is your election. ... You can make a difference."

Moore told the crowd the majority of Americans disagree with President Bush on nearly every issue from assault weapons and the environment to the war in Iraq and that the president is lying when he says he won't reinstate a military draft.

"There is going to be a draft if he gets another four years," Moore said. "This is Carnegie Mellon, just do the math. ... He's running out of troops. ... Where is he going to get more troops?"

There were a few hecklers, but Moore played to a largely partisan crowd, regaling the group with mock Bush campaign ads he'd created. One ad stated, "58,000 American soldiers died in Vietnam but John Kerry wasn't one of them. If he truly loved his country, he would have died. Vote Bush," which elicited laughter from the crowd.

"What Michael Moore has to say is pretty truthful and I think 'Fahrenheit 9/11' sums up what's going on," said Chicago native Jessica Vaughn, 21, a CMU interdisciplinary art and history major. "I'm voting Democratic and I actually switched my vote from Illinois to Pennsylvania because this is a swing state."

"It was really empowering," said Keri Rodriguez, 31, a University of Pittsburgh social problems instructor. "Even if you don't agree with him, he makes you think about things."

About a dozen anti-Moore protesters stood along Forbes Avenue before the rally.

"A movie that's propaganda masked as a documentary is wrong," said Dan Wilson, 21, an electrical engineering major and member of the College Republicans at Pitt. He and other protesters urged passersby to see the anti-Fahrenheit 9/11 film dubbed "Fahrenhype 9/11."

CMU's student-run activities board funded Moore's appearance through student activities fees but would not disclose the amount.

However, one CMU student took issue with the rumored fee.

"They should not be using student activity money to pay a speaker who is trying to sway an election," said Laura Calise, 20, a CMU technical writing major who held a sign that read, "$ I $ want my $ back."

"It doesn't cost $30,000 to come to Pittsburgh," she said. "That's one hell of a Primanti's sandwich."