by Mary Ann Akers
June 21, 2004
Smack That Vote Down. Just about every corporation out there has some sort of “get out the vote” campaign to recruit and motivate young people to go to the polls. But World Wrestling Entertainment has got it going on, demanding attention from both major parties and interest groups across the political and demographic spectrum — from the Brooks Brothers-and-martini set at the Republican National Committee to the panty-hose-and-pocketbook scene at the League of Women Voters.
The WWE’s “Smack Down Your Vote” now has President Bush and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) hopping to enter the squared circle. The WWE is slated to release responses today from both major candidates to their national voter issues paper, a lengthy survey that identifies top concerns and priorities of voters between the ages of 18 and 30 (who make up the bulk of the WWE’s typical viewership).
Bush’s campaign promised it would submit responses by Monday. Kerry submitted his last week, providing five pages’ worth of promises to straighten out the economy, reduce health care costs, make college more affordable and — HOH loved this one — “take on the special interest influence that breeds cynicism among young people.”
Gary Davis, the executive director of WWE’s “Smack Down Your Vote” campaign, says the fact that Kerry took such care in answering the questions and returning the voter survey so promptly says a lot about the power of the WWE in the 2004 election.
And it’s no wonder: WWE has tens of millions of viewers each week.
WWE wrestler Chris Nowinksi, the 6-foot-5-inch, 270-pound, Harvard-educated nerd boy whom everyone loves to hate in the wrestling entertainment world, is the star of the Smack Down Your Vote effort.
Nowinksi says “most people are shocked” to see the other side of him when he’s out in the field doing Smack Down the Vote work.
“People say 18- to 30-year-olds are unmotivated. I think it’s just a lack of information.” But it helps, he says, that he has a Harvard degree. “People respect that.”
Nowinksi says he bonded with the ladies at the League of Women Voters recently. “A lot of them were wrestling fans in their youth,” he said, perhaps somewhat delusional.
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