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First-time activists heed the call.

Article Excerpt
Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard

It's the most important election of our lifetime. The stakes have never been higher.

Such oft-repeated refrains have emerged as the themes of the 2004 presidential election. From just-retired generals to long-ago soldiers, from ordinary citizens to celebrities, more voters than ever have charged off the political sidelines, declaring their allegiance to one candidate or their aversion to another.

Galvanized by sharp differences separating President George W. Bush and challenger John F. Kerry, citizen involvement in presidential campaigns has reached unprecedented levels. Campaign professionals see it in the number of people canvassing neighborhoods, calling voters and erecting political lawn signs. And election officials are measuring it through record-level voter registration and predictions of higher-than-ever voter turnout.

Today, The Register-Guard looks at a handful of first-time political activists who are working on behalf of Bush or Kerry.

Bonner Hogue:

Admires a "stand up" president

In the 1960s, Bonner Hogue did what many Americans in their early 20s did - or wished they'd done.

He moved to Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco and dabbled in the radical leftist politics fashionable at such times and in such places.

But in the lifetime since then, Hogue has done rehab. He's done with Marxism. And in the sober afterlight of Sept. 11, he's come to see that the best thing for America is to elect President Bush.

Hogue, 58, hasn't completely broken with his '60s-era past. His graying beard matches the wavy gray hair that sprouts from his wool cap. He keeps his pipe, tobacco and other items in a handmade Guatemalan satchel of red, green and yellow. In 1996 he moved to Eugene on advice that the city was "one of the places where all the old hippies ended up."

Despite an appearance and a life story that would blend in at a peace-and-justice storefront operation, Hogue is one of the Lane County Republican Party's most dedicated volunteers. He has spent the summer and fall placing phone calls to potential Bush supporters, encouraging them to register and to vote Republican.

On a personal level, Hogue said he finds much...

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