CHARLESTON, S.C. - Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean brought his surging presidential campaign back to South Carolina after months away on Friday, telling a crowd of mostly students at the College of Charleston they have a chance to take back America.

"One hundred and forty years ago in this harbor, the shots were fired that began to dissolve the Union - 140 years later you have the opportunity to fire a shot to make a more perfect Union," Dean told about 300 people gathered in a garden at the college.

"The responsibility to govern this country is passing to you," Dean told the crowd, which was entertained by rock bands and a gospel choir waiting for the candidate who was about an hour late arriving.

Fort Sumter, where the Civil War began, is located in Charleston Harbor.

South Carolina's Democratic presidential primary next Feb. 3 is the first in the South. Dean was last in the state in June when he held a fund-raiser in Columbia.

Throughout the crowd were Generation Dean signs and the visit was a stop on a tour that will take Dean to seven college campuses around the country in four days. Dean didn't mention his Democratic opponents, but took aim at George Bush.

"South Carolinians have voted Republican for 30 years," said Dean, who appeared on stage with no jacket and blue short-sleeve shirt. "Tell me what you have to show for it?"

"Nothing! Nothing!" several in the crowd shouted back.

"The Legislature cut $73 million out of the public school system. Jobs gone to other countries especially in textiles. People haven't had raises in five years because their health insurance premiums took their raise in pay," Dean said.

"If you're satisfied with that, you ought to vote for George Bush," he said. "But maybe you ought to vote Democratic again. Because when white people and black people and brown people vote together in this country, that's when we make social progress."

Dean is leading the Democratic field in fund raising and in some key state polls. But a poll released earlier this week conducted by American Research Group of Manchester, N.H., showed John Edwards with a lead in South Carolina. It showed Edwards at 16 percent and Dean at only 6 percent.

The poll found that 42 percent of those surveyed were undecided.

"We haven't been here that much. We need to be here a little more," Dean later told reporters. "We're going to do that, but we have been pretty focused on a couple of other states and that's going to start to change."

Dean said he was working on closing the gap.

"It's going to take a long time and I'm not well-known in South Carolina but we're getting there," said Dean, who said there his campaign has been organizing.

While the campaign has not opened a state campaign headquarters, Dean said "we're certainly going to be competitive here and we're certainly going to have a strong organization because we have raised a fair amount of money."

Dean said the Democrats need to talk about issues important to young people.

"Education, college costs, jobs, health insurance - those are all big issues for kids and that needs to be a center for the Democratic Party platform," Dean said.

Students in white Dean T-shirts handed out signs to those in the crowd.

One of them was Lee Roueche, an 18-year-old from Rock Hill who got involved with her first political campaign only Friday.

"I went on the Internet and I was reading all the profiles of the candidates and I found Howard Dean and on the environmental issues, and civil rights everything was just what exactly I agreed with," she said. "I saw signs on campus and so I came and so I'm doing this."