Bandwagon Redux

by Ian Wagreich

I assure you it was no case of déjà vu this time around when I joined the VoteForBusiness Bandwagon yesterday at an RBC Bank building for a business after-hours hosted by the Winston-Salem, NC Chamber of Commerce this evening. For starters we are less than two weeks away from the election and voters are much more educated than they were when we took the two Bandwagons to the national conventions almost two months ago. And it was a heck of a lot colder this time.
 
A warm and welcoming crowd hailed us and we were quick to get into the issues while local businesses sipped refreshments and gathered candidate platforms on their local candidates. The Employee Free Choice Act was fresh on voters’ minds and more than half a dozen staff from Washington were on hand to educate folks about the dangers of passing the card check initiative.
 
As the sun set our driver Ed, informed us we would be delayed by a flat tire. After much investigation we found no union activists nearby and chalked it up to just a bogus nail left out in the parking lot. With the tire changed and a fresh bevy of t-shirts and other giveaways packed away, we headed off to the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum to run a voter education drive at a Pink Floyd look-alike concert. Concert-goers apologized in advance that their fresh white VFB t-shirts might look a bit soiled on their exit.

With nearly two weeks to go, our mission is to educate voters on the issues and what the candidates' positions are. That and to demonstrate to them no matter who they vote for it is imperative that they vote. This tour will be a comparatively short run, ending up on Monday in Baton Rouge.
 
Today we are heading off to the ever-famous High Point Furniture Market. We are, after all, in the furniture capital of the world. Hopefully we have worked out all the kinks on this run and left the flat tires behind.