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September 27, 2004Moore fires up crowdByRecord-Eagle staff writer ELK RAPIDS - Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore kicked off his 60-city "Slacker Uprising Tour" by trying to convince area Democrats they are actually in the majority. "Today this is an appeal to what we believe is a Democratic majority in Northern Michigan," Moore said. "Because it's just been said so many times that this is a Republican area people believe it is true. I don't believe it is true." Moore will be taking his show to college towns in 20 swing states in an attempt to energize non-voters, register young adults, and defeat President George W. Bush in November. Sunday night's crowd of 500 supporters didn't want him to leave after more than two hours in the hot and sticky Peterson Auditorium. Moore said public opinion is already against Bush and all that's left is to get the vote out. "Fifty percent of the country doesn't vote, and a lot of them are slackers like me, so I said I'm going to go out and just talk to them for the next five weeks," he said. "I'm hoping if we can convince just 10 percent of the nonvoters to vote this time around we can get that (turnout) up to 55 or 56 percent, we'll set a modern day record," Moore said. A resident of Antrim County, he spent a significant amount of time on local issues and chastising Democrats for their invisibility. When he went to vote in the primary there were no Democratic candidates for township offices and just one Republican candidate for each slot. "I thought this is good, because I never got to visit the Soviet Union where there is only one party," he said. "I don't want to see that again up here or I'm moving back to Flint," he shouted at the crowd. "If someone here doesn't put their name down I'll put down my own ... ." Sunday's event was a fund-raiser for Gary Blair, Democratic candidate for Antrim County Sheriff, and Jim McKimmy, Democratic candidate or the 105th state House seat. McKimmy said one of his young volunteers told him if he wants to energize young voters to get Moore. "It makes me wish I could vote," said Katie Devenueau, 17, of Elk Rapids. "He wasn't skirting the issues, he was telling the truth." Morgan MacDonald, a freshman at the University of Michigan, doubted before the show if Moore could energize young voters but changed her mind later. "Absolutely, this is a different group tonight but I think its going to work from what he showed us," she said. MacDonald said young voters are already energized because they know this might be the closest election in history. Outside Bush supporters lined the driveway yelling "Four more years," while a group of Democrats protested the protesters. At one point early in the afternoon security and police stepped in between the two groups to calm things down. Protesters said they were just there to show support for Bush and tell people that Moore lies in his documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11, which is highly critical of Bush. "I'm just glad to see everybody is smiling and everybody is having a chance to have their say, not like a Bush rally," said Dick Sanderson, McKimmy's campaign manager.
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