Canvassing on a fast-food track

Dave Brooks

The secret to a healthy campaign is a good diet.

After nearly a month on the campaign trail, 23-year-old Lezlie

Mayers of Huntington Beach and 24-year-old Nicole Brooks of

Westminster have mastered the art of ordering, especially when

pulling into a fast-food joint.

At a recent stop at a Southland McDonald’s, the pair had very

specific instructions about their meal. First off, no meat (they’re

both vegetarians), and secondly, go easy on the fries.

“Oh, and could you hold the war?” they ask.

This light-hearted routine is more about the person behind the

counter, and less about the Big Mac. Are all the employees registered

to vote? the Ralph Nader campaign volunteers want to know. Would they

like some information about “super-sizing” their wages?

Using a combination of street theater and grass-roots organizing,

the pair are canvassing Southern California from their Matt Gonzalez

Van (named after the San Francisco mayor and Green Party candidate)

as part of the Corporate Crimebusters Tour -- a 40-volunteer, 20-van

effort that hopes to hit 800 U.S. cities before the Nov. 2 election.

The tour is one of the main outreach arms for Nader, who has

broken ranks with the Green Party for the less organized Reform Party

in his attempt for the presidency. Nader is continuing to push

through with his message, although his grass-roots base has been

greatly diminished.

He recently had to loan his cash-strapped campaign $100,000 to

keep it afloat, Federal Election Commission filings show.

Poll numbers from the Democratic National Committee show Nader

polling at 1.5% of voters in swing states, about half the support he

had in 2000, thanks in part to sour memories from the Democratic

Party, which has launched a long legal battle to keep him off the

ballot in at least 17 states.

One of those states is California where Mayers and Brooks have

been passing out literature on how to write-in Nader’s name on the

ballot.

“As soon as Ralph said he was running for president on “Meet the

Press,” I decided to get involved,” Brooks said.

“Just voting every four years isn’t enough,” Mayers chimed in,

quoting the man they both affectionately refer to on a first name

basis. “You have to be civic minded everyday.”

The pair’s political message runs parallel to Nader’s 2000

platform: the two-party system, or duopoly as they call it,

emphasizes corporate interests over everyday Americans. Democracy

should be more participatory, they argue, and not a zero-sum game.

“So many people embody the ‘anything but Bush’ attitude, and I

want to show people to vote on their dreams and not focus on fears,”

Mayers said. “A person has to earn my vote, why shouldn’t John Kerry

earn my vote by representing me and my interests.”

The van tour, which the pair got involved with after working on

Nader petition drives, has been a political awakening of sorts. The

two, both college students, first met while working as waitresses;

Brooks an outgoing art student with little experience in politics,

and Mayers, a button-lipped bookworm from Las Vegas.

Now they find themselves in endless conversations with strangers.

Traveling south from their Santa Cruz kickoff point, they’ve rallied

at community colleges, introduced Nader a few times at stump speeches

in San Diego and Las Vegas, and participated in the L.A.

Million-Worker March.

As for Nader’s chances of winning, Mayer and Brooks said they’re

more focused on spreading the candidates’ message and connecting with

the disenfranchised.

Mayers said she’s slowly gotten used to the bewildered passersby

and irked Democrats.

“Sometimes people get really loud with us and that’s not

necessary,” she said. “A lot of times I just want to tell them ‘come

on, we’re doing this for you guys.’”