Posted by AssyrianVoice4Peace from ? (167.88.192.30) on Thursday, November 14, 2002 at 1:44PM :
Published on Wednesday, November 13, 2002 by the Lacrosse Tribune
(Wisconsin)
500 Showed Their Opposition to
Kind's War Stance with Twain Votes
by Terry Rindfleisch
It's official: Mark Twain received more than 500 votes in La Crosse County
as a write-in candidate for Ron Kind's 3rd District congressional seat in the
Nov. 5 election.
Not bad for a dead guy.
Libertarian candidate Jeff Zastrow of Eau Claire beat
the American humorist and writer as the third-largest
vote-getter in La Crosse County in the congressional
race with 1,156 votes. Kind easily won re-election to
his fourth term.
The La Crosse Coalition for Peace and Justice
initiated a write-in campaign for Twain to protest
Kind's position on the Iraq war resolution. Kind, a La
Crosse Democrat, was the lone Democrat from
Wisconsin to vote for the House resolution giving
President Bush authority to use force against Iraq.
In a review of the write-in votes in La Crosse County, the Tribune and the La
Crosse County Clerk's office could not come up with an official vote total
because of problems with a few write-in records. But the total was between
501 and 507 votes for Twain. The La Crosse Coalition for Peace and
Justice calculated 506 votes.
Samuel Clemens, Twain's real name, received one write-in vote for
Congress and one vote for governor. Twain received write-in votes for
governor, attorney general and every La Crosse County office including
district attorney and sheriff.
Guy Wolf, a member of the La Crosse Coalition for Peace and Justice, said
Twain received votes for Congress in other counties, and he expects the
total number in the 3rd District to top 600.
"I was surprised at how many voted for Mark Twain," Wolf said. "Our goal
was 500 for the whole district because it's difficult to write-in a name with all
the different kinds of ballots in the district."
"Voting is a private, moral matter, and Mark Twain was a throw-away vote,
and many couldn't do it," he said. "We're happy with those who did. We did
this with spending no money and starting the campaign only two weeks
before the election."
Wolf said many respected citizens who are active in the community cast the
Mark Twain vote.
He said the coalition's campaign received national publicity and raised
awareness about a potential war in Iraq.
"We need to continue to ask Ron Kind to hold the administration
accountable for a war in Iraq, and we need to keep the discussions going,"
Wolf said.
"Ron Kind's position on the Iraq war resolution - and not Ron Kind -
attracted the Mark Twain vote," he said.
Twain was selected as a write-in candidate because of his anti-war stance
and name recognition. "Twain focused on the consequences of war," Wolf
said.
He said the La Crosse Coalition for Peace and Justice is planning other
anti-war events and peace rallies in the future. "We want to keep the
momentum going," Wolf said.
-- AssyrianVoice4Peace
-- signature .
Follow Ups: