That 6-foot-5, 300-pound man you’re standing next to might not be security. He might be one of the half-dozen professional wrestlers from World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) on hand this week to promote “Smackdown Your Vote,” WWE’s youth voting initiative.

As she did in Boston, WWE CEO Linda McMahon has traveled to New York along with WWE Champion John “Bradshaw” Layfield, Sean Michaels, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, Big Show, Mark Henry and Ivory to participate in various events this week.

The group seeks to to increase voter turnout of 18- to 30-year-old Americans by 10 percent in this election and to get more politicians to respond to the “18-30 VIP,” a voter issues paper that asks elected officials to comment on the economy, Iraq, education and their motivation/vision. Both President Bush and John Kerry have completed the survey.

Also this week, wrestler Chris Nowinski, WWE’s “political correspondent,” will be penning a column each day. His last entry, dated Aug. 20, concerned the candidates’ children. “I believe the campaigns have rendered the candidates’ children ineffective in reaching their peers by choosing to have them be solely cheerleaders,” he wrote. He explained that “when celebrities speak out for a specific party or candidate, it probably doesn’t, and shouldn’t, affect the voting behavior of the general public.

credit: www.thehill.com

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