DISPATCHES: A personal invitation to join Team Bush

DISPATCHES by Hank Kalet: Can’t you just feel the excitement rising as he opens the envelope.

By: Hank Kalet
   I receive a lot of political mail at home.
   For instance, every single day it seems I get at least one form letter from Sen. John Kerry asking me to help make President George W. Bush a one-term president.
   I figure a lot of trees have died in this cause, but I have yet to sign on. One reason is that form letters are so impersonal.

   The other day, however, I received a letter from Marc Racicot, chairman of the Bush-Cheney ’04 campaign, that included a signed photo of the president and first lady Laura Bush. I was quite excited — so excited, in fact, that I may have to rethink my entire political belief system. After all, no one had ever sent me such a thoughtful request to get involved.
   In his personal letter to me — and I know it was a personal letter because he crossed out Dear friend and hand wrote, "Dear Henry" — Mr. Racicot wrote that he "would be thrilled to tell the President" that I had agreed to be a part of the team.
   I can see it now. I write a check (the letter asks for a "contribution of $1,000, $500, $250, $100, $50, $35, $25 or whatever you can afford"), send it in the special, postage-paid envelope to Mr. Racicot. Then, overflowing with excitement, Mr. Racicot rushes over to the White House to tell them I’ve joined the team as a Charter Member (the capitalization is his).
   I can understand his glee. As Mr. Racicot points out, my presence as a charter member on the team will allow the president to get his "campaign up and running." After all, he has been so busy being president that he has only been able to raise $201 million for his campaign so far, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
   A $201 million war chest may seem like a lot of money, especially when it is almost double the $117 million the John Kerry campaign has on hand. But, as Mr. Racicot so thoughtfully points out, the Democrats "have relentlessly attacked the President" and all those "liberal special interest groups" out there "are raising hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat President Bush."
   These groups have raised almost $200 million, the letter says, and plan to raise a total of $500 million (according to the Center for Responsive Politics, the top 50 of these interest groups — which come from both sides of the political spectrum — have raised about $140 million, which seems pretty close to $200 million, I guess).
   These groups, Mr. Racicot says, are creating an unfair advantage for the Democrats, an advantage that the Bush team needs to offset by reaching out to grass-roots people like me to bridge the gap.
   My support, Mr. Racicot says, "is critical. The 2000 and 2002 elections revealed that our national political contests are extremely competitive, but, if we work together, we can prevail."
   And it will allow the president to "elevate the political debate for his positive, optimistic agenda for America." My money will help pay for ads that define what it is that President Bush will do for our country, ads like those that accuse John Kerry of raising the gas tax, of waffling on issues, of failing to spend money on new weapons systems or flak jackets for our troops.
   These ads offer a positive message and a strong vision of the future. These are the kind of advertisements that really define who a candidate is and what he stands for.
   Ads like these allow the president to get his message out, something that Mr. Racicot implies has become increasingly difficult because of those pesky liberals that run the news media.
   It is my job, Mr. Racicot says, to "help us get the message directly to the voters."
   Wow. This is an awesome responsibility and I’m not really sure if I’m quite up to it. I mean, I could do as Mr. Racicot says and cut the campaign a check, but a $1,000 contribution seems so insignificant. Perhaps I should buy a sandwich board, emblazon it with pro-Bush slogans and wander around town ringing a bell to draw attention to myself.
   I could drive around the region in my car with a loudspeaker strapped to the roof (as in "The Blues Brothers") broadcasting my pro-Bush sentiments for all the world to hear.
   Or I could do what I’ve planned to do all along — voice my criticisms of the president in my column and vote for John Kerry in November.
   I guess that doesn’t make me a real good team player, does it?
Hank Kalet is managing editor of the South Brunswick Post and The Cranbury Press. Click here to send him an e-mail.