Barbara Ehrenreich, Bonnie Raitt and Tim Robbins to headline telephone press conference at noon EST, Oct. 22
Contact:
Michelle Mulkey or Mike Smith: 415/901-0111
Sara Flynn: 212/584-2000
MEDIA ADVISORY
Large ads are being placed in more than 20 alternative newsweeklies urging Nader supporters living in 10 swing states to vote for John Kerry in 2004. The ads promote a statement by over 70 former Nader supporters — including Noam Chomsky, Jim Hightower, Susan Sarandon, Ben Cohen, and Cornel West — endorsing voting for Kerry in all swing states.
“Our goal is to reach voters who have been almost entirely neglected in this campaign: swing voters on the left,” said John Weiss, publisher of the Colorado Springs Independent. The ads will run in the following states where the race is close and Nader is on the ballot: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Wisconsin.
“No one has gone after these millions of likely voters,” added John Pearce, founder of TheUnityCampaign.org. “With almost every prominent member of Ralph Nader’s own, hand-picked ‘Citizens Committee’ for his 2000 campaign publicly uniting behind John Kerry in battleground states, we have a message that needs to get out. The alternative newsweekly papers were the perfect vehicle to reach these swing voters. If enough potential Nader voters hear about this, Kerry will pick up tens of thousands of battleground state votes.”
Placement of the ads was coordinated by the Alternative Weekly Network, an advertising cooperative based in Sacramento, Calif., that specialized in placing ads in 150 alternative newsweeklies that reach nearly 20 million readers.
Reporters interested in covering this story are urged to participate in the following press conference:
WHAT:
Telephone press conference with progressive leaders and former Ralph Nader supporters urging citizens to vote for John Kerry.
WHEN:
Friday, Oct. 22, 2004; 9 a.m. PDT, noon EST
DIAL-IN INFORMATION:
888/455-9655
Conference PASSCODE: 530522
Conference MODERATOR: Parker Blackman
WHO:
Barbara Ehrenreich; Bonnie Raitt; Tim Robbins; John Pearce, Founder, TheUnityCampaign; Jeff Cohen, Coordinator, Vote2StopBush.com; Eli Pariser, Executive Director, MoveOn PAC
