Nader Campaign Kicked Off

Toledo. Sandusky. Akron. Youngstown. With their recently leased office on South Main Street, the Oberlin Nader for President Campaign can now boast that their operation is more dedicated, organized and passionate than many of those in surrounding cities. Seniors Ty Moore and Philip Locker are the movement behind the Oberlin Nader for President Campaign and, said Locker, "We look forward to inflicting the most damage on both parties here in Ohio."

In order to do this damage, the campaign has arranged to lease a storefront in downtown Oberlin for two months. Thus far they've raised about a third of the necessary $1,500 to lease the space.

Locker said that the Oberlin Nader for President Campaign is based on two fronts: on-campus and off-campus. He said, "We want to hit every single student; we want to have a massive presence with tabling; we want to go to almost every student organization and give a presentation to them on why they should endorse Nader... It's a broad campaign with lots of different student organizations that are endorsing us."

Part of the problem of our democratic republic, Moore and Locker intone, is the lack of interest and education. Moore said, "Fifty plus percent of people don't even bother to vote. There was a recent poll that showed that 77 percent of Americans said they agreed with Nader on most issuesŠwhich is a real reflection of the state of our democracy. We really want to send a message more in Ohio than anywhere else, because it is a swing state."

The campaign plans to hold meetings, forums and organized debates on campus. "We've publicly challenged the Oberlin College Democrats to a series of debates and we've yet to hear from them," said Locker. In addition, the Oberlin Nader for President Campaign wants to attract representatives from Northern Ohio. Locker said the campaign has also "put up the challenge to local Democratic representatives like Sherrod Brown and Dennis Kucinich to take up an opportunity toŠput their opinions forward and let the voters decide for themselves."

The second front of the Nader campaign takes place off-campus. The campaign will use the storefront not only as their campaign headquarters, but as a center for voting information. Locker said, "Starting next week we're starting a major campaign in the town of Oberlin." He added, "We're going to have a teach-in [at the store-front] on Sunday between 2-6 p.m. where they'll be an hour of political discussion on different issues about the Nader campaign. Then we're going to have a three hour training session for canvassing."

According to Moore and Locker, canvassing represents an integral part of getting the word out about Nader. Locker stated frankly the campaign's lofty goals of "hitting every single house in Oberlin with our Nader material," starting next week.

Moore said, "Many cities aren't going to be able to organize serious canvassing campaigns, so it's very exciting in Oberlin that we are going to be able to saturate our audience."

The audience, for Moore and Locker, is not just College students who are swayed by Nader's idealism or Oberlin residents who feel represented by Nader's pro-union stance. They see their campaign as being perhaps even bigger than the election itself. For Moore, the 2000 presidential election is an opportunity to do something larger.

Moore said, "The goal is not just to be a pressure group on the Democratic party or Republican party but the goal is to build real independent politics corps of working people, young people, and other people who don't see the Democrats or Republicans as representing their interests. We're trying to use Nader's campaign as a way to build a new movement in this country. The only real way that changes happen in this country is by building movement; it's not elections themselves."

"We use elections as a way to actively reach millions and millions of Americans in a way that is hard to do in any other form," he continued, "What other time can you go and knock on someone's door and talk about anti-corporate politics and have them listen them to you? We're trying to use this as a springboard for real progressive change in America."