Not since the last presidential election cycle or the run-up to the Iraq war have I had a week so full of political events and protests. Armed with a huge collection of shortie’s and ice’s beautiful buttons, a downloadable petition from StopIranWar.com and a cheap clipboard from Office Max, I “took to the streets” to collect signatures and raise awareness.

Sunday: After an abortive attempt to collect signatures at a public park, I decided that a more targeted approach would probably suit my style. Collected signatures at my church, had a brief conversation with a supporting clergyperson about how to proceed and a longer conversation with another clergyperson. I am now on the agenda to speak at next month’s meeting of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship.

Signature Count: 12

Tuesday: Attended my local Democratic Meetup. Although the Iran War was not part of the existing agenda, the presider graciously gave me time to speak, people took buttons and signed and we had a “spirited discussion” about the presidential candidates. One gentleman is a strong Edwards supporter and no one else had strong preferences, although a few were dubious about Clark. All of them, however, signed the petition.

Signature Count: 22

Saturday: Went to my local Legislative District meeting, where I heard quite a lot of interesting dialogue on health care, transportation, and schools, schools and schools. General Clark is right – education is on the TOP of the agenda for a lot of people. During the question and answer period, I got up, thanked them for voting against federalizing our National Guard and asked them what else they could do to prevent another “misguided, ill-conceived mess of a war,” adding that I “had brought a petition against it.”

One of my representatives answered very thoughtfully and thoroughly, but, essentially said that they couldn’t do anything. He did, however, sign the petition. ;-) The other representative said that they’d “voted against federalizing the National Guard,” thus indicating that she hadn’t really been listening to me, which made me quite cross. However, I collected about 20 signatures, got the name of a few other people and places to call and the first representative – the good one – said “keep up the good work.”

No real Hillary or Obama love with this crowd either – a few people really did like Clark, but others thought he’d waited too long. Edwards has some soft support, and if Gore runs, he’ll be a knockout with this crowd. The magic words “single-payer health insurance” really worked with this crowd, however, as did the meme of taking national security away from the Republicans. I do think that if General Clark runs and makes a splash, a lot of these folks will start paying attention, as the presidential campaign is a blip on the radar – or an annoyance – to people right now.

Signature Count: 43

Sunday: Collected additional signatures and handed out buttons at church, then it was off downtown to protest the war. It’s extremely hard to collect signatures while marching. I made a note to myself to get there earlier next time and to possibly invest in a portable table and folding chair. A lot of people signed the petition, even radical socialist types and I gave out a LOT of buttons.

After the protest, I went to a fundraising dinner for my wonderful, “liberal lion” Congressman, Jim McDermott. Not too much of an opportunity to gather signatures, as it was more of a social event, but during his speech, he talked about how worried he was that the administration was going to strike Iran. Immediately, I whipped out my petition and everyone at my table signed it. It was funny, because a candidate for some local office was at my table and he kept leaping to his feet every time someone came over to say hello.

[As a side note, when Congressman Jim McDermott, Senator Chuck Hagel, former NSA advisor Zbigniew Brzezinksi and General Wesley Clark all agree that some foreign policy idea is a bad move – it probably is just that. A Bad Move. Are you listening, President Bush? Are you listening, Secretaries Rice and Gates?]

McDermott’s speech was fabulous. It hit all of the right Democratic populist notes, including education, health care, and veterans and the two honorees were fantastic, community-service-oriented women. He talked quite passionately about how the government was supposed to be by and for the people and to serve the people, adding that, before the election, people were always telling him how tired he looked, but that “he’s not tired now!” Indeed, he looked renewed, vigorous and happy, ready to take the fight back to the Capitol.

The congressman also said something that I thought was really important – that it was the Democrat’s job to demonstrate effective leadership and to convince the American people that this was the direction they wanted to go in for “the long haul.” (Actually, I’m not 100% certain he said “long haul” but it was something like that). I know it’s easy for me to get upset when I don’t think Congress is doing what I want or being aggressive enough – but I also realized, after hearing McDermott speak – that they’re waging and winning a much more strategic battle, for the hearts and confidence of the entire electorate. That may be helpful for when I start freaking out again. Because Congressman McDermott represents such a liberal district, he can push for more liberal reforms and ideals, but he did tell us that the next two years was going to be more about laying the ground work.

After the event was over, I mingled, handed out buttons and collected some signatures (including one from an elderly gentleman who has been collecting buttons since the 1950s, or even earlier – he selected his VERY carefully from my stash), and got a chance to both thank Congressman McDermott and gave him a button. He read it (it was the “diplomacy first” one) and said, with approval, “That’s exactly right – first you talk, then you have sanctions and then you go to war!” I’m supposed to “keep him posted’ – and HE thanked ME – if you can believe that! I don’t think I’ve felt so honored since a World War II veteran called me “a true patriot” back in 2003 when I spoke about General Clark at his post.

I think after I get more signatures, I’ll write him and tell him what’s going on and see if I can get on his calendar.

A few common themes emerged:

At this point, presidential support is soft, soft, soft. Most people think the presidential primary started WAY too soon and are enraged by the waste of time, money and media attention.

I didn’t find a single avid Senator Clinton supporter. Not one. Concern was expressed that she is too hawkish and few people were genuinely enraged by the thought of “presidential dynasties.”

Senator Obama’s support has fallen off since he entered. Many of the people I talked with liked him personally and admired his oratorical gifts, but didn’t think he’d actually done anything yet. “Not ready for prime time” was how one supporter described him.

Senator Edwards and Governor Richardson are liked, but no one is ready to hit the streets for them. People were willing to hear more about Clark and when I talked about how liberal he is, they got more interested. After spending all of this time with actual, political supporters and peace activists, I have to tell you that I don’t think General Clark is too late at all. Everyone else is too early – much too early. As one voter put it, “This is RIDICULOUS!” People were, however, concerned about the media-driven perception that “this might be too late” and “can he raise the money” – without realizing that they were contradicting this media perception with their own actions.

I also found that people wanted to sign the petition, although busy people were more willing to take a button and go visit the site on their own. It helps to have a variety of options

So, next steps for me include:

• Calling a few local large churches, synagogues and my neighborhood mosque
• Speaking to the Episcopal Peace Fellowship next month
• Bringing buttons and the petition to a college alumni event
• Going to a “Persian dinner,” buttons and petition in tow…
• Who knows?

Signature Count: 96
Button Count: 120

Sign the petition: www.stopiranwar.com
Order buttons! http:www.stopiranwarbuttons.com