Bush, Kerry Go Grass-Roots for Votes

Aug. 4, 2004 -- Despite all the technology introduced during the 2004 presidential campaign, the race has become a feverishly grass-roots hunt for votes.

On Tuesday, the liberal activists of MoveOn.org and America Coming Together announced a 28-city concert tour to raise money and awareness to help Sen. John Kerry defeate President Bush in November.

The concerts — featuring Bruce Springsteen, the Dave Matthews Band and the Dixie Chicks, among others — will be in cities strategically targeted almost entirely in key battleground states, such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.

"The tour has a very basic intent," Springsteen said in an interview with Ted Koppel for tonight's Nightline. "Its intent is to change the direction of the government, change administrations in November, to mobilize progressive voters, and get them to the polls come election time. So it's a very practical, practical purpose."

Bush has made appearances aimed at mobilizing potential Republican voters. In addition to more traditional constituencies like the Catholic organization the Knights of Columbus, which the president visited last night, Bush has appeared in front of NASCAR fans.

In addition to the veterans Kerry has been pursuing, he has also tried to appeal to hunters. Bush visited the Amish; Kerry, coal miners. Bush gave an interview to Field and Stream magazine and appeared on the Outdoor Life Network cable channel; Kerry talked to American Windsurfer and rapped with MTV.

According to Robert Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, this is because what was once considered a uniform American audience has become balkanized.

"There was a time when we had three networks, when you could virtually talk to everybody at the same time, where everyone was feeding from the same cultural trough," Thompson said. "Now there really is a sense that if you want to talk to the entire electorate, you've got to collect this coalition of audiences — a little bit here, a little bit there."