Word: grassed
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Many grass-roots supporters fear that the brain trust will turn Perot's maverick run into a mainstream bid for the White House. They are convinced that the candidate is in danger of being packaged by a group of slick operators more interested in returning to power than in revolutionizing government. That argument is reminiscent of the "Let Reagan be Reagan" true believers who accused Washington insiders of badly serving the former President's interests whenever he veered away from the conservative creed...
...however, the volunteers have performed remarkably well. In New York part-timers have established two separate structures: one to overcome the state's byzantine electoral laws and assure Perot a spot on the ballot, and another to cultivate grass-roots activities through November. One petition- drive worker in New York City who attended an orientation meeting received four follow-up phone calls confirming that she would actually hit the streets with a clipboard. Other statewide groups have been equally effective in marshaling support and finding their way through the legal thicket. Perot's California organization, which collected more than...
...took over his group's bank account when they consolidated operations in Oklahoma City. When Clancy balked at being shut out, the World War II veteran was told he was a "security risk." According to Cliff Arnebeck, a Perot volunteer in Ohio, the Dallas-based advisers "squelch and humiliate" grass-roots workers. If a local organizer is at the center of a controversy over tactics or long-range strategy, the professionals "put out the fire by jettisoning those under attack...
...hour call-in session on Today in mid-June. After he gave a waffling answer to a question about Social Security benefits, Couric shrewdly tossed the ball back to the caller: "Roberta, are you satisfied with that answer?" She wasn't, and Perot had to try again. Now more grass-roots questioners are probing with follow-ups, insisting on "specifics." At a time when TV journalism has come to the people, the people are learning to be journalists...
Take the parties. They arose in the 19th century as a two-way transmission belt. They gathered grass-roots sentiment and sent it up to the governing elites, who in turn used them to mobilize an otherwise unreachable mass electorate. A century ago you needed party rallies and precinct captains to get the message out. In the age of television and satellites...