TO THE EDITOR
Meanwhile, John Edwards, his opponent, ap-
peared to be every inch the Southern gentle-
man, polite as possible, and definitely knowl-
edgeable of the needs and wants of voters
across the U.S. Thus I offer my support fully
for the Kerry/Edwards ticket.
As a young American and student, I do
not want my country to be run by an angry
old man who proves to be rude to anyone
who dares to counter him. I want someone
who will reach out to foreign leaders, who
can be expected to invite people to the table
for a genuine discussion despite disagree-
ment. I want John Kerry and John Edwards
running the U.S.
Lindsay Jansen
Corvallis
PLAN FOR PEACE
At the vice-presidential debate, Sen.
Edwards made the case that the Bush-Cheney
regime has no plan to win the peace in Iraq,
no plan to improve the economic life of the
average American and does plan four more
years of the same: more war, more unem-
ployment at home, and less security in the
world. Kerry-Edwards does have a plan to
win the peace in Iraq by internationalizing the
recovery, to employ Americans by securing
our jobs at home, and to obtain homeland se-
curity by applying the resources needed to
protect our people. It’s time to change for the
better. I will be voting for Kerry-Edwards.
Gerald R. Merritt
Eugene
BY DAN CAROL
Turning Blue
An election Post-it note
W
ell, the debates are over — save for the spin.
Now the final dogfight for votes begins.
So here are your 1-2-3 instructions to turn
the map blue by Nov. 2. Please share widely.
Step #1. Strap on the right attitude. Forget the
polls — we are going to win this election because our
people are coming out to vote in droves. That’s true no
matter what happens. So, should George Bush produce
Osama bin Laden in the next 18 days, just be happy. The guy is a
murderer and we should all rejoice — even if the whole thing smells like a remake of
Wag The Dog. But my X-file spider sense tells me that if THEY had Osama, those
“they” guys would have produced him after Bush’s first debate debacle. Therefore,
forget about October Surprises and what THEY are doing. We win if we execute on
steps 2 and 3.
Step #2. Make our votes count. Folks should be prepared to stand in line, all night
if necessary, as a lot of county clerks may be overwhelmed by higher-than normal
voter turnout. For paranormal activities like voter fraud, intimidation and funky
touch-screen voting machines, do more than stand in line. Pick up the phone. Tell
everyone you know, particularly your swing state buddies, that if they see something
bad, or have trouble voting, don’t give up but call (866) OUR-VOTE to get hooked into
the national election protection hotline. Operators will be standing by.
Step #3. Get busy. Here are a few practical things that you can do:
• Send money to JohnKerry.com or critical mobilization campaigns run by groups
such as Floridiansforall.org, www.wi-citizenaction.org, and www.michcitizenaction.org
Go to BeatingBush.com to help support critical, on-the-ground work by state
Democratic parties.
• Volunteer on one of the three Saturdays left: Go to ElectionMatch.org for oppor-
tunities near you — or far away if you live in a very blue state and have the time to
travel. Electionprotection2004.org is also looking for poll watchers.
• House a volunteer in your spare bedroom. So if you’d like to host your own reality
show called “Real World, The Election,” contact the AmericaVotes.org affiliates in
your state. You’ll be glad you did.
• Get dressed up on Halloween at TrickorVote.com
• Make up your own voter guide and hand it out to friends and family. Check out
www.busproject.org or www.indyvoter.org for good examples of how to develop and
style your own “Three Minute Voter Guide.” And don’t forget about the League of
Women Voters (www.lwv.org) — the League is still a great source for candidate voting
records and the other “just the facts m’am” research you’ll need to create a winning
guide.
• Convince any remaining Nader voters you know to be more strategic this time
around, without wasting their vote or wasting away our country. Urge them to visit
www.votepair.org to learn about vote pairing.
Talk to you soon — after we’ve won.
Dan Carol is a Democratic political strategist and a founding partner of CTSG (www.ctsg.com), a progressive
consulting firm based in Eugene and Washington, D.C.
8 OCTOBER 14, 2004