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	Close Race Inspires IBEWs Political Activists October 2004 IBEW Journal
Retired Local 573 member Russ Clauser, Warren, Ohio, welcomed the DNC's America Can Do Better tour when it stopped in Niles, Ohio.

Political analysts handicapping the presidential race see an America that is not as united as its name would imply. The United States is nearly evenly divided between Republican red or Democratic blue and a handful of swing states will determine the winner of the high-stakes race for president on November 2.

Local 280 member Greg Hobbs, right, with
Rep. Peter DeFazio at a campaign event in
Springfield, Oregon.

Of all the Midwestern states in that toss-up category, none will be more contested than Ohio, which President Bush won by a sliver in 2000. No Republican president has reached the White House without the state in his column. This year, thousands of motivated activists inside and outside of Ohio are determined to deny President Bush the state, and therefore, theoretically, the presidency.

That resolve inspired 30 IBEW Chicago-area volunteers to weather a pounding rainstorm one Saturday morning for a 3 a.m. boarding of a chartered Greyhound bound for Toledo, Ohio. Despite the blinding rain and harrowing conditions on a construction-laden interstate, most slept through the five-hour trip from blue-state Illinois, across red-state Indiana and into the heart of Battleground 2004 and the effort dubbed by the AFL-CIO as "Take Back Ohio."

August 28 was proof that IBEW members are more fired up than they have ever been for the upcoming presidential election. On that date, nearly 200 IBEW members from three states converged onto Ohio for door-to-door walks that aimed to convince union members to vote for labors candidate, John Kerry.

"Ive never seen so much passion on the part of our members to make a difference than this pivotal year for the labor movement," said IBEW International President Edwin D. Hill. "Never underestimate the power of a motivated electorate."

These committed foot soldiers represent thousands of members who have embarked on the IBEWs biggest ever get-out-the-vote effort, Mobilization 2004. The labor-to-labor walks, which started in June, continue right up and through Election Day.

"There are times when people are just hungry to do something, and if you throw out the opportunity, theyre going to jump at it," said retired Local 9 member Roberta Woods, who helped organize the trip originally as an Electrical Workers Minority Caucus event. "Working people are so worried about the direction this country is moving in."

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