Armenians for Kerry
80 Bigelow Ave., Watertown, MA 02472
Tel. (917) 428-1918 * ancaer@anca.org

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release ~ October 8, 2004
Contact: Sevag Arzoumanian ~ (617)-233-3174; sevag@kefforkerry.com
Doug Geogerian ~ (917) 428-1918; ancaer@anca.org

Armenians for Kerry Announce: Kef for Kerry Tour of Battleground States

Armenstock 2004 organizers take show on the road with Kef for Kerry Tour as part of the ANCA’s nationwide voter mobilization effort

At the Armenstock 2004 music festival in late August, Armenians in John Kerry’s home state of Massachusetts gave its native Senator running for President, and a close friend of the Armenian community for over twenty years, a thunderous send-off into the fall campaign. The event reverberated well beyond New England and prompted requests from Armenians in other states for a repeat performance in their own communities. Bowing to popular demand, the organizers of Armenstock have teamed up with a network of local activists to announce that they are taking the show on the road to four battleground states.

Billed as the Armenian version of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Vote for Change’ tour, the ‘Kef for Kerry Tour of Battleground States’ is to swing through Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida and Pennsylvania during the final three weeks of October. Modeled after Armenstock 2004, each stop on the tour combines a single musical performance with a political program designed to generate enthusiasm among young activists and bring in hundreds of new fellow passengers onto the Armenians for Kerry bandwagon. The battleground states chosen for the Tour have sizeable Armenian communities and are expected to play a pivotal role in the outcome of the presidential election this year.

The Kef for Kerry tour has recruited some of the most talented, young Armenian artists performing in the US today. In Racine, Wisconsin on October 8th, Gor Mkhitarian will perform at George’s tavern. Ara Topouzian on October 22nd will perform in Dearborn, Michigan at a inter-ethnic pro-Kerry festival. The Armenian-American community of southern Florida will hear the Cascade Folk Trio in Ft. Lauderdale on October 24th. Finishing off the tour, Gor Mkhitarian accompanied by his West Coast Band will play in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 29th.

The Kef for Kerry event in Dearborn is as part of the Ethnic American Coalition of Michigan Rally for Democratic Candidates. The rally is co-sponsored by the Armenian National Committee of Michigan, the Chaldean Democratic Caucus, the Greek-American Democratic Caucus, the Irish Caucus and others. It features a star studded line-up of speakers with Congressman Joe Biden as the keynote speaker and Governor Jennifer Granholm, Senator Debbie Stanebow and Senator Carl Levin as guest speakers.

The Kef for Kerry Tour website (www.kefforkerry.com) has all the details about the individual events and also features extensive biographical information about the musicians:

http://www.kefforkerry.com

As in any political rally, the performances will be interspersed with breaks to provide representatives from local ANC’s and Armenians for Kerry groups with a chance to address the crowd. They will inform them of the unprecedented opportunity John Kerry’s candidacy offers our community in strengthening U.S. support for Armenia’s interests and advancing prospects for genocide recognition. These events will also provide senior Kerry campaign officials with the opportunity to directly address a group of Armenian voters in a battleground state.

All four stops on the Tour are being publicized locally by aggressively canvassing and leafleting local Armenian community centers, churches and community events. In some cases, hundreds of letters have been mailed out to Armenian voters inviting them to the event. In addition to details about the musical performance, each flyer or letter bears information that contrasts Kerry and Bush on Armenian issues, effectively spreading the good word about John Kerry’s candidacy far beyond those attending the individual concerts.

The website www.kefforkerry.com, which features an animated introduction to the Tour, is already drawing thousands of visitors. Traffic is especially heavy from Armenians living in Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In the month preceding Armenstock 2004, the website www.armenstock.www, which featured an animation of John Kerry and John Edwards dancing to an Armenian tune, was accessed by over 22,000 unique visitors. Both websites contain extensive information about John Kerry’s and George Bush’s diametrically opposed records on Armenian issues.

The Kef for Kerry Tour also coincides with the ANCA’s nationwide voter mobilization campaign which consists of nationwide postcard writing, phone banking and canvassing efforts targeted at Armenians in key swing states. In the Eastern United States alone, activists are writing, calling and canvassing for ANC chapters in Albany, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Virginia. The efforts are targeted at Armenians residing in primarily the following battleground states: New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. Focused in four of these swing states, the raucous Kef for Kerry concerts will especially succeed at creating enthusiasm for John Kerry’s candidacy in the local Armenian community, by informing Armenian voters about his impeccable record on Armenian issues, mobilizing local supporters, signing up volunteers for the final few weeks of the campaign and most crucially, getting the Armenian vote out in record numbers on November 2nd.