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Running against Bush, and jogging others into voting |
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By The Hill Staff
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Posted: 09/28/04 12:00 AM [ET] |
It’s a warm, sunny Saturday morning in Dupont Circle. People are hip to hip on the benches. Others rest on the edge of the fountain, and the grass is filled with sunbathers, Frisbee players, and dog walkers. Suddenly, all eyes are turned to the outer edges of the circle, where a herd of blue T-shirts begins its ceremonious descent down Connecticut Avenue, toward the White House. | | FILE PHOTO | | Run Against Bush supporters pass the White House. |
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| Since February, these runners have been taking the circle by storm every weekend.
They all have one thing in common and, surprisingly, it is not the love of running.
They all want George W. Bush voted out of office in November.
The runners are known as Run Against Bush. The founding group of eight is a mix of independents, Republicans, Greens and Democrats united by their strong anti-Bush sentiment. Outfitted in matching shirts that read “Run Against Bush,” they are sprinting billboards.
The founders of Run Against Bush don’t strive to be hardcore political activists, and they haven’t dropped everything to work on a presidential campaign. They all have full-time jobs — seven out of eight work in nonpolitical fields.
Other running groups’ objectives include training for races, building physical endurance or counteracting the previous night’s beer and pizza consumption. This group’s purpose is political change — the health benefits are an added bonus.
So why would eight people who aren’t political and who aren’t runners form a group based on politics and running? Furthermore, how did Run Against Bush manage to raise more than $400,000 and grow to more than 11,000 people with members from all 50 states in only nine months?
United they run, divided their reasons
The founders decided that they weren’t going to dictate anyone’s motivation for running. The reasons posted on their website include the environment, war, healthcare, taxes, the national debt, affirmative action, gay marriage, gay rights, weapons of mass destruction, lingering anger over the Florida recount in 2000, the Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind, fighting the apathy of young people who don’t vote, Bush’s grammar, separation of church and state, the death penalty, the widening gap between the rich and poor, Social Security — the list goes on and on. …
So do the insults: Having “a president who dresses like a cowboy” was enough to inspire one member to run. Someone else runs because of a president who “speaks gibberish even when scripted,” and another says, “Although Vancouver is a nice place to visit, I’d rather not have to move there.”
Yet another has had enough of what he calls an “I can’t think or do anything different than my Dad kind of guy.”
Others keep it short, simple, and honest, saying, “Our country’s in trouble, and I ate too many Christmas cookies.”
And they’re off
By the morning of the first “Jog Against Bush” or JAB, on Saturday, Feb. 7, $8,000 had been raised and there were 160 team members in the D.C. metro area and beyond. Members had joined from places as far away as California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Nebraska and Puerto Rico.
About 20 people showed up at the fountain in Dupont Circle, eager for their first jog.
“Now we have at least 50 people every weekend,” says co-founder Elissa Laitin.
They run rain or shine, although, Laitin says, “we’ve never been rained on. Not once. We think that’s a good sign.”
Soon, Washington wasn’t the only site of blue shirts in motion. On March 13, the first JAB in New York took place in Central Park, where 100 members, led by seven New York-based organizers, wearing their “Run Against Bush” T-shirts, assembled outside the Tavern on the Green restaurant. They jogged and walked one-mile loops in the south end of the park. The first celebrity member, Michael Moore, was spotted at this event with his wife, Kathleen.
By the end of March, regular JABs were taking place in San Francisco, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia. Local JABs were started in Arlington and Alexandria, Va. Group walks were taking place in cities across the country including Minneapolis, Montgomery, Ala., and Charleston, S.C.
In case it isn’t obvious enough, Will Coleman, another founder, points out, “The idea of running against Bush is a double-entendre.” Not to mention the fact that Bush is known to be a runner himself. We’ve all seen clips of him out for a morning jog, amid a moving pack of Secret Service men. Or there’s the one of Bush and Condoleezza Rice talking about the day’s issues on side-by-side treadmills.
An uncharacteristically unsweaty Coleman notes that Bush hasn’t been running lately due to a hurt knee, much like Coleman himself, who injured his knee and joined the ranks of the walkers. So is Run Against Bush literally beating the president at his own game as the runners circle his residence, enjoying the sport he loves while he watches from the sidelines of the White House balcony? They hope so.
Running to the polls
Across the circle, a member named Jessica Cox is being interviewed by CBS News for
a story on people who voted for Bush in 2000 but don’t plan to vote for him again this fall. “Run Against Bush has given her the opportunity to come out and say, ‘This is why I’m not voting for him. This is why I’ve changed my mind,’” explains a female co-founder who didn’t want her name mentioned.
Getting more people out to vote is a major component of Run Against Bush’s mission.
“It does nothing if we run around the White House all year long and then people don’t go out and vote,” she adds.
Run Against Bush is confident that it will motivate people who don’t usually vote.
Anna Laitin, one of the co-founders, says, “On Nov. 2, they [members] will have been thinking about the election, they’ll get out there, and they’ll drag those friends.” The group hopes that the people they whiz by on the streets absorb the same message.
Luke Easley, a D.C. resident who happened to be walking across Dupont Circle on a Saturday morning, said, “The Run Against Bush campaign caught my attention.
They’re doing something different. Not standing around passing out fliers.” Had they been doing that, Easley said, “I would have just kept on walking.”
Keeping it legal
Run Against Bush, according to FEC rules, will be required to give donations to at least five federal candidates, which can include those running in congressional races.
Elissa Laitin says, “We’re an unauthorized committee, which means that we are not affiliated with the Kerry campaign, we are not affiliated with the Democratic National Committee, and that we’re completely independent. So we do have to follow certain rules.”
Coleman is quick to correct anyone who asks to buy a T-shirt, “We don’t sell T-shirts,” he says. “We take minimum donations of a certain amount [$25] and for that you get membership and a shirt.”
Coghlan is a freelance writer living in Washington. |
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