Making an issue of T-shirts

They are at every presidential candidate's appearance in Nevada: the people in the matching T-shirts.

Over there, taking up half a row of seats in the audience, are the red ones. They say "Divided We Fail." A few people in light blue are handing out fans that say "I'm voting for kids." A chunk of people in dark purple are filtering into the room, having slapped purple "I'm a health care voter!" stickers on many members of the audience.

That was the lay of the land at an appearance in Las Vegas by Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards last week, and it wasn't unusual.

The T-shirt people are a common sight at every presidential campaign event in Nevada. They are interest groups, deployed by national organizations to raise particular issues with the candidates.

They are coming to Nevada now that the state is one of the first to hold presidential nominating contests, hoping to catch the candidates in the places they are spending the most time.

Most of the groups also have presences in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, the other earliest states.

"It is something Iowans are used to," said Jean Hessburg, an Iowa-based operative who is directing the Democrats' Nevada caucus campaign.

Hessburg was the executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party during the 2004 presidential cycle.

"When you think about it, it's a great opportunity for groups that might not be able to be heard above the din nationally to bring up their issues and put them in front of the candidates," she said.

For example, when Edwards took questions at last week's event, he called on an audience member in a black-and-white T-shirt -- a volunteer for the ONE Campaign, rock superstar Bono's effort to get politicians to focus on global poverty. The campaign has been endorsed by both the Democratic and Republican national committees.

The questioner asked Edwards what he would do to fight extreme poverty all over the world.

Edwards replied, "I'm going to confess something. I called on you because you've got that T-shirt on."

Edwards then spoke about the importance he would place as president on expanding American foreign aid to poor countries, focusing on education, micro-lending and stopping AIDS. He concluded, "I hope you're for me, but even if you're not, I want you to go to every candidate's events and ask them the same question."

That is exactly what all the T-shirt people are doing.

Also in town last week was another Democratic hopeful, Chris Dodd. As he walked into his new Las Vegas office, he allowed a red-and-yellow-shirted activist to slap a "Make global warming a priority" sticker on his shirt. As he spoke, four people in the "Divided We Fail" shirts were behind him, forming a backdrop.

The "Divided We Fail" campaign is an effort of the AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, which wants promises from the candidates on health care and retirement.

AARP's Nevada spokeswoman, Deborah Moore, said the campaign is a nonpartisan effort to bring those issues to the attention of all the candidates. The T-shirt wearers are all volunteers and are members of both political parties who have committed to make the campaign's issues their top priority when they participate in the nominating caucuses in January.

"We go in wearing our shirts; we try to get as many people as we can in the room and hopefully ask a question," Moore said.

The campaign will also train Nevadans on how to participate in the caucuses, something few here have experience with. It will travel the state handing out literature and signing up volunteers.

"This is Nevada's turn to shine. It's our chance to have an impact on the national discussion," she said.

The purple-shirted "I'm a health care voter" people are with a campaign of the Service Employees International Union called Americans for Health Care. They want all the candidates, Democrats and Republicans, to commit to some kind of plan to make quality, affordable health care available to every American.

"The point is not to push for a specific plan, but to call attention to the issue," said the group's Nevada campaign director, Samantha Galing Gaddy.

The group will not endorse any candidate or advocate any specific solution to the problem. Galing Gaddy said polling shows that Americans of all political stripes rate health care the No. 1 domestic issue facing America.

"When the candidates are in town and they look around and see a sea of purple, they get the message: I better make this a priority, or I'm not going to win Nevada," she said.

If that message has mostly been sent to Democrats so far, she said, it's just because Republicans haven't been here much. The only Republican who has campaigned before an audience of the general public in Las Vegas so far is Texas Rep. Ron Paul, and the health care voters were at his event.

"People in Nevada are starting to recognize the unique opportunity that they have," Galing Gaddy said. "There's not the tradition of Iowa or New Hampshire, but they're starting to realize they have a voice."

Hessburg, the Iowa Democrat, said the groups and the candidates have a reciprocal relationship. In addition to getting their pet causes noticed, the volunteers help fill the room for candidate visits, give the candidates opportunities to take up specific topics (not to say pander), and help the political parties organizing the caucuses get people involved, motivated and trained for Jan. 19.

The groups are all nonpartisan and want both parties to talk about their issues. But those issues may be an easier sell to one side or the other. For example, the light blue shirts, the "Every Child Matters" campaign, wants more federal funding for programs for kids, which Democrats may be more likely to see as the right solution.

Hessburg noted, however, that at least in Iowa, where Republican campaigns have so far had more of a presence, there are groups on the conservative side of the spectrum, advocating for lower taxes or religion-based socially conservative causes.

Ideally, the campaigns want commitments from everyone, especially the two nominees, so that whoever takes office will have made a promise to them.

"Hopefully, the two candidates that end up in the final heat will have heard our message," said AARP's Moore.