DES MOINES
– As the primary season kicks-off today, the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) has launched a unique campaign asking
voters to cast ballots for the candidate they would most like to sit down and chat with over a beer.
NBWA, in conjunction with the Iowa Wholesaler Beer Distributors Association (IWBDA), marked the official start of the election season by asking voters one question as part of a non-scientific survey: “Which of the presidential candidates would you like to have a beer with in 2008?”
Voters of legal drinking age can pick a candidate on line at www.nbwa.org or www.whodoyouwanttohaveabeerwith.com throughout the election season. Voters also cast “ballots” in person at Legends American Grille in Des Moines, Iowa, on the eve before the Iowa caucuses. On-site voting will continue in New Hampshire and South Carolina in conjunction with primaries in those states.
“With all of the rigors of a campaign – attack ads, phone calls, direct mail – Americans know sometimes it just comes down to who you want to have a beer with,” said NBWA President Craig Purser. “We hope this campaign reminds voters that at the end of the day, while issues are very important, so is conversation, civility and character. Having a beer with someone represents getting to know someone better, and that’s what the campaign season is all about – getting to know these candidates better.”
In addition to being an election year, 2008 marks the 75th anniversary of the full repeal of Prohibition and the beginning of effective, state-based alcohol regulation under the 21st Amendment. Today, Americans enjoy more than 13,000 labels of beer from coast to coast distributed through a state-regulated system.
Beer has long been a part of American society going back to the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower; they dropped anchor at Plymouth Rock in 1620 because their beer supply was running low. General George Washington’s first order was for every troop to receive a daily ration of beer. American lore has it that Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence over a pint in a Philadelphia tavern. Many of the founding fathers, including Washington and Jefferson, were brewers.