In Seattle, columnist Laura Vecsey profiles the grass-roots
effort that will begin in two weeks to help keep the Mariners.
"The Campaign" will attempt to sell King Co. voters on a sales-
tax proposal for a new Mariners stadium. Vecsey reports,
"Boeing, Weyerhaeuser and other heavyweights have decided Seattle
should remain a major league town and will reportedly support
it." But until this point, the only visible support has come
from local landscaper Rudy McCoy, who has been riding around the
area with a billboard propped up in the back of his truck
supporting the Mariners. McCoy: "This thing's got to be a
grass-roots movement, so I started thinking, 'What can I do to
look like a big dork and draw attention to the issue?'" But
McCoy won't be alone. There are now TV commercials playing
during Mariners games, and Bob Gogerty of Gogerty & Stark is
"masterminding" a campaign strategy. Mariners Dir of Public
Affairs Lee McMillan: "It's going to have to be a big campaign.
It's not going to be just Seattle, but south King County and
north King County. It's going to have to get a lot of people
involved, from the business community to the Little Leagues to
the season-ticket holders in order to demonstrate how broad the
support is" (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 6/20).
