CEDAR FALLS, IOWA — Natalie Sugira usually reserves Friday nights for family. But recently, she abandoned her husband and three children for the evening and drove 120 miles to spend less than two minutes with presidential hopeful John Edwards.
She wanted to discuss world hunger and Africa and its miseries, subjects that Sugira -- a political refugee from Rwanda -- knows well. "It's simple," Sugira said, her eyes steady on Route 150. "I speak out because I can."
In August, she quit her job at the University of Northern Iowa and took a pay cut to join the One campaign, a group co-founded by U2 rock star Bono to press lawmakers to fight poverty, and promote education and healthcare around the world. In doing so, Sugira joined a small army of activists swarming Iowa and New Hampshire this election season, representing causes as varied as the White House contenders they court: taxation, education, Darfur, gay rights, global warming, defense spending, chronic illness.
They share a common goal -- pushing their issue to the top of the nation's political agenda -- and they target the early-voting states for a reason: Those are where the presidential candidates devote most of their time.
Beyond that, Iowa and New Hampshire have a long tradition of up-close, one-on-one campaigning, which creates a dialogue between those running and those voting that is impossible to match just about anyplace else.
"That style of retail politics gives more of an opportunity not just to individuals but also interest groups to get to the candidates," said Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Des Moines.
Holding placards and wearing T-shirts promoting their cause, issue advocates are easy to spot as they trail the White House hopefuls from one event to the next. They scour the crowds for recruits, and compete to quiz the candidates or encourage their supporters to do so: "How would your administration work to reduce the number of people without adequate food and water?" "How would your administration make children's health a priority?"
The causes are serious, but their champions aren't always so. In 2000, people in fuzzy pink pig suits chased Steve Forbes, Gary Bauer and other presidential candidates across New Hampshire, protesting fur coats, factory farming and other animal-rights issues. The pigs are gone this year, but there is a walking snowman who campaigns against global warming and a woman in a bright-red apple suit stumping for education.
