The British paper The Guardian Weekly has launched
According to The Guardian:
You may not have heard of it, but it’s one of the most marginal areas in one of the most marginal states: at the last election, just 324 votes separated Democrats from Republicans. It’s a place where a change of mind among just a few voters could make a real difference.
I’m assuming that by “marginal,” what The Guardian means is “close.” “This is a place,” says The Guardian where a few votes could make a difference.
Operation Clark County pairs a Guardian reader with a Clark County voter. Entering an e-mail address in the provided registration box returns the name and address of someone in Ohio. The Guardian explains:
Writing to a Clark County voter is a chance to explain how US policies effect you personally, and the rest of the world more generally, and who you hope they will send to the White House. It may even persuade someone to use their vote at all. […] Of course, who you urge your voter to support is entirely up to you.
Helpful hints are provided, such as be courteous and charming, don’t make assumptions, explain why you are writing, etc. The Guardian promises to publish a selection of the most persuasive letters on October 20th.
And, although the reader is not advised which candidate to suggest, sample letters from British luminaries leave little doubt:
As the bumper stickers put it, “Re-defeat Bush”. But, this time, do it so overwhelmingly that neither his brother’s friends in Florida nor his father’s friends on the Supreme Court will be able to rig the count. Decent Americans – there are absolutely more intelligent, educated, civilised, cultivated, compassionate people in America than in any other country in the western world – please show your electoral muscle this time around. We in the rest of the world, who sadly cannot vote in the one election that really affects our future, are depending on you. Please don’t let us down.
It’s always interesting how others see us.
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