Tony Viessman, a retired Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper, and Les Spencer, a retired Reliable Insurance broker are hardly poor, bigoted, ignorant farm laborers from the South whose skin has grown dark and weathered from days of direct sunlight.
They don’t look anything like what Webster describes as a redneck.
In fact, the only trait they have to that definition is this pair of Rolla residents is white.
But if you ask them, they’ll proudly tell you without batting an eye ... they ARE rednecks ... Rednecks for Obama.
They came about the Redneck title honorably.
They borrowed it from another Democrat, who during the 1994 Missouri gubernatorial campaign, was referred to — rather rudely — as just “another Redneck from Rolla.” That Democrat was former Gov. Mel Carnahan, who gladly accepted the moniker and rode it all the way to the Governor’s Mansion in Jefferson City.
The “Redneck from Rolla” name has existed since, gaining in popularity among Democrats. Certainly, Mel Carnahan used it successfully, and subsequently referred to himself in that manner. The governor’s wife, Jean Carnahan, has used it as she assumed his role in the Senate, and now this unlikely pair of retirees are using it and having “the most fun of (their) lives,” Tony Viessman said Wednesday just hours before they hopped in their car loaded with goodies to head to Washington, D.C., for the President Obama Inauguration on Tuesday.
That’s right. Viessman, Spencer and Spencer’s son, Wally, already arrived in the Capital City for the Inauguration.
“They’re there. They just arrived 10 minutes ago,” said Viessman’s daughter Julie McCash at 6:45 p.m. (EST) Thursday. “They hit a terrible snowstorm in the mountains, but they’ve arrived safely.”
What began six months ago with a $25 painted banner that proudly declared their cause “REDNECKS For Obama” has taken them across Missouri, the country to political debates in Mississippi, New York and St. Louis; to the National Democratic Convention in Denver, to Nashville, to Times Square, and meetings with Obama, who on Tuesday will become the 44th President of the United States.
Admittedly, Viessman said, he invested in the banner in an attempt to get Obama’s attention.
Oh, they got Obama’s attention, all right.
In Union, Obama jumped off his bus in steady rain and ran right toward the pair holding their banner as they lined the road.
“He came right to us,” Viessman said.
Then they got former President Bill Clinton’s attention, the national media including Katie Couric and her broadcast crew of CBS’ Evening News — who they lured to Rolla’s famed Tater Patch pub, and media from 30 countries.
Their Web site, rednecks4obama.com, has more than 1.5 million hits.
Clinton signed their banner and then told the pair: “I better not see this on eBay.”
The banner has other signatures, too, including Obama’s, Gov. Jay Nixon’s and Obama Press Secretary Bob Gibbs.
Rednecks for Obama has blossomed from an idea of three Missouri senior citizens — Tony’s wife Jan is a founding member — to a national phenomenon.
These self-proclaimed rednecks from Missouri have become national celebrities, so much, in fact, that when Obama made a repeat appearance in Missouri on Nov. 1 — just days before the election — the Obama Campaign called the Viessman home asking them to come to Springfield, past the Secret Service to Obama’s personal haven where they went on stage with the Obama campaign and the President-elect signed their banner.
“I could hardly talk on the phone when they called,” Jan Viessman said.
The Viessmans and the Spencers have invested their own money in this campaign for their candidate.
In a time when most people keep their political affiliations to themselves, the “Rednecks” wear their affiliations on their sleeves, and sometimes it stirs others.
“It happens sometimes,” Les Spencer said. “This is not about confrontation. We let them have their say.”
“They won’t pick a fight,” Jan said, jumping in.
And when some ask how they can support a man of color, they have an answer for that, too.
“The skin game is long over,” Les Spencer said nodding.
“Barak Obama is the most intelligent man we’ll have for president, and that includes Bill Clinton,” Tony Viessman said.
It’s a crusade they believe in. In fact, they are putting their money where their beliefs are, investing their own funds for hats, bumper stickers and T-shirts.
“They haven’t made a dime,” Jan Viessman said.
“We find ourselves mostly giving stuff away,” Tony Viessman said. “In Denver, I tried to give a woman a T-shirt, and I told her it was free. She looked at me ... and then threw a $100 bill at me. We had more bumper stickers made with that.”
The Viessmans’ daughter, Sara, an Allentown, Pa., pediatrician has gotten on the Rednecks for Obama bandwagon, contributing thousands to having T-shirts printed from her home, traveling with the trio to New York, flying in to St. Louis to be part of the Nov. 1 meeting Obama during his Springfield, Mo., appearance.
“She said, ‘Dad, I have to be there for that,’” Viessman said. “She jumped on a plane, landed in St. Louis, rented a car and was here in hours.”
For now, the “Rednecks” are hunkered down in D.C, in Viessman’s grandson’s apartment. His grandson is Ryan Dillon, a personal aide for Democratic U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton.
Viessman, the Spencers and Dillon have offered to write an account of their time in D.C. and of the Inauguration for the Rolla Daily News.
“We’ll be sleeping on the floor at his apartment, but it’ll be worth it,” Viessman said.
“And to think this all started with a $25 sign ...”
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Tony Viessman, a retired Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper, and Les Spencer, a retired Reliable Insurance broker are hardly poor, bigoted, ignorant farm laborers from the South whose skin has grown dark and weathered from days of direct sunlight.
They don’t look anything like what Webster describes as a redneck.
In fact, the only trait they have to that definition is this pair of Rolla residents is white.
But if you ask them, they’ll proudly tell you without batting an eye ... they ARE rednecks ... Rednecks for Obama.
They came about the Redneck title honorably.
They borrowed it from another Democrat, who during the 1994 Missouri gubernatorial campaign, was referred to — rather rudely — as just “another Redneck from Rolla.” That Democrat was former Gov. Mel Carnahan, who gladly accepted the moniker and rode it all the way to the Governor’s Mansion in Jefferson City.
The “Redneck from Rolla” name has existed since, gaining in popularity among Democrats. Certainly, Mel Carnahan used it successfully, and subsequently referred to himself in that manner. The governor’s wife, Jean Carnahan, has used it as she assumed his role in the Senate, and now this unlikely pair of retirees are using it and having “the most fun of (their) lives,” Tony Viessman said Wednesday just hours before they hopped in their car loaded with goodies to head to Washington, D.C., for the President Obama Inauguration on Tuesday.
That’s right. Viessman, Spencer and Spencer’s son, Wally, already arrived in the Capital City for the Inauguration.
“They’re there. They just arrived 10 minutes ago,” said Viessman’s daughter Julie McCash at 6:45 p.m. (EST) Thursday. “They hit a terrible snowstorm in the mountains, but they’ve arrived safely.”
What began six months ago with a $25 painted banner that proudly declared their cause “REDNECKS For Obama” has taken them across Missouri, the country to political debates in Mississippi, New York and St. Louis; to the National Democratic Convention in Denver, to Nashville, to Times Square, and meetings with Obama, who on Tuesday will become the 44th President of the United States.
Admittedly, Viessman said, he invested in the banner in an attempt to get Obama’s attention.
Oh, they got Obama’s attention, all right.
In Union, Obama jumped off his bus in steady rain and ran right toward the pair holding their banner as they lined the road.
“He came right to us,” Viessman said.
Then they got former President Bill Clinton’s attention, the national media including Katie Couric and her broadcast crew of CBS’ Evening News — who they lured to Rolla’s famed Tater Patch pub, and media from 30 countries.
Their Web site, rednecks4obama.com, has more than 1.5 million hits.
Clinton signed their banner and then told the pair: “I better not see this on eBay.”
The banner has other signatures, too, including Obama’s, Gov. Jay Nixon’s and Obama Press Secretary Bob Gibbs.
Rednecks for Obama has blossomed from an idea of three Missouri senior citizens — Tony’s wife Jan is a founding member — to a national phenomenon.
These self-proclaimed rednecks from Missouri have become national celebrities, so much, in fact, that when Obama made a repeat appearance in Missouri on Nov. 1 — just days before the election — the Obama Campaign called the Viessman home asking them to come to Springfield, past the Secret Service to Obama’s personal haven where they went on stage with the Obama campaign and the President-elect signed their banner.
“I could hardly talk on the phone when they called,” Jan Viessman said.
The Viessmans and the Spencers have invested their own money in this campaign for their candidate.
In a time when most people keep their political affiliations to themselves, the “Rednecks” wear their affiliations on their sleeves, and sometimes it stirs others.
“It happens sometimes,” Les Spencer said. “This is not about confrontation. We let them have their say.”
“They won’t pick a fight,” Jan said, jumping in.
And when some ask how they can support a man of color, they have an answer for that, too.
“The skin game is long over,” Les Spencer said nodding.
“Barak Obama is the most intelligent man we’ll have for president, and that includes Bill Clinton,” Tony Viessman said.
It’s a crusade they believe in. In fact, they are putting their money where their beliefs are, investing their own funds for hats, bumper stickers and T-shirts.
“They haven’t made a dime,” Jan Viessman said.
“We find ourselves mostly giving stuff away,” Tony Viessman said. “In Denver, I tried to give a woman a T-shirt, and I told her it was free. She looked at me ... and then threw a $100 bill at me. We had more bumper stickers made with that.”
The Viessmans’ daughter, Sara, an Allentown, Pa., pediatrician has gotten on the Rednecks for Obama bandwagon, contributing thousands to having T-shirts printed from her home, traveling with the trio to New York, flying in to St. Louis to be part of the Nov. 1 meeting Obama during his Springfield, Mo., appearance.
“She said, ‘Dad, I have to be there for that,’” Viessman said. “She jumped on a plane, landed in St. Louis, rented a car and was here in hours.”
For now, the “Rednecks” are hunkered down in D.C, in Viessman’s grandson’s apartment. His grandson is Ryan Dillon, a personal aide for Democratic U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton.
Viessman, the Spencers and Dillon have offered to write an account of their time in D.C. and of the Inauguration for the Rolla Daily News.
“We’ll be sleeping on the floor at his apartment, but it’ll be worth it,” Viessman said.
“And to think this all started with a $25 sign ...”
