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July 15, 2004
Actor Sheen coming to Ohio with anti-Bush script
By Mark Naymik
Cleveland Plain Dealer
The president is coming to Cleveland next month to raise money for . . . Democrats.
Republicans shouldn't panic just yet.
The president in this case is Josiah Bartlet, the liberal world leader on NBC's White House drama "The West Wing," who is played by actor Martin Sheen.
A longtime political activist, Sheen will be here Aug. 14 to raise money for a new special-interest group created to campaign against President Bush specifically in Northeast Ohio.
Sheen, a Dayton native, is one of several celebrities who have agreed to help raise money or campaign with the group, Bring Ohio Back or BOB. It's the newest left-leaning group to funnel money into grassroots campaigning in Ohio and into airing political commercials in the state.
The group's honorary co-chairs are actors Chad Lowe and Fisher Stevens, who plan to use their entertainment industry connections to bring actors, musicians and comedians to Ohio to raise money, knock on doors, greet voters at fairs, and possibly appear in political ads.
Lowe and Stevens are planning a fall celebrity concert and bus tour in Ohio aimed at raising awareness about Ohio's economic troubles.
Stevens turned to Ohio after attending a meeting in New York City led by, among others, Democratic strategist and former Clinton administration official Harold Ickes, who heads the Media Fund, an anti-Bush group.
"I know people have problems with actors rambling" about politics, Stevens said in a phone interview from Los Angeles. "I want Ohioans to vote with their heart. I want to get the facts about the issues important to the state."
Similarly, Lowe, a Dayton native, said he was drawn to the effort because of Ohio's importance in the election and its economic condition.
"It breaks my heart to go back to Dayton and see the jobs that have been lost," he said in a phone interview from New York City. "The opportunities are just not there, and that's tragic."
Ohio Democratic strategist Gerald Austin and Jeff Rusnak, a political consultant with Burges and Burges Strategists, set up the group and will manage its operations.
Rusnak said the group hopes to raise $1.2 million for grassroots campaigning, direct-mail and some radio and TV advertising. He said this group differs from the others working in Ohio in that the money will be spent specifically in Northeast Ohio.
On Wednesday, the group launched its Web site at Bringohioback.org.
Under new federal campaign finance laws, political parties can no longer accept unlimited contributions from wealthy donors, celebrities, and unions to run their grassroots operations. As a result, groups like BOB, known as 527s, have sprouted up everywhere.
"Considering the cast of characters involved, the evidence continues to mount that this group is part of a long list of Kerry campaign shadow organizations that are using soft money to supplement his campaign," said Kevin Madden, a Bush campaign spokesman.
"As far as their message: It's the same tired song and dance. The John Kerry celebrity set parachutes in from out of town and bad-mouths Ohio's economy, preaching doom and gloom, and they think that that anger can serve as an agenda."
Lowe will be in Cleveland today and Friday to help organize the Sheen event and to work on a film project he plans to direct in Cleveland this fall.
For Lowe, the group is simply about getting voters involved in the election.
"I just feel the way a lot of people do, that this is the most important election in our lifetime, one that every one needs to participate in," he said.
Posted by Jo at July 15, 2004 07:29 PM