Senator Boxer to receive bouquet of 5,000 Roses on Valentine's Day!

Senator Barbara Boxer of California will receive a bouquet of almost 5,000 roses from supporters and constituents across the country on Valentine's Day, February 14th, as a loving thank you for her recent outstanding service in the Senate. Organized by Stacy Davies of Claremont, California, the roses will be delivered February 14th to the Hart Senate Building office of Barbara Boxer in Washington DC. at 3:30 p.m. EST.

The note included with the flowers will read: "Dear Senator Boxer: You are a shining example of what a civil servant can, and should, be, and we, your constituents and supporters, deeply appreciate your heroic charge to bring accountability, responsibility and honesty back into our government."

Senator Boxer has recently emerged as the leading voice in the fight against the Bush Administration's destructive mandates both abroad and at home. She has disputed the questionable Ohio 2004 election vote, elegantly denied Condoleezza Rice a confirmation vote, and almost single-handedly stood up for the principles of freedom, truth, and accountability we expect from our elected officials. A grand public thank-you is in order

"I was so completely taken with Senator Boxer's candid and eloquent remarks during the Rice conformation hearings--her intelligence and her passion--that I thought it would be wonderful to send her roses on Valentine's Day to show my gratitude," says Davies, a freelance writer and DJ at the Claremont Colleges in Claremont, California. "Coast to Coast Florist (1-888-269-5297) was the first name to pop up on Google. I explained to the company's CEO Art Conforti, that my idea was that people be charged a simple $10 for three red roses that would then be sent, en masse. It didn't take long before he enthusiastically told me he would create the pledge line, set up a toll free number and retrain his reps. After we worked out the final details and I hung up, I was in a daze--it was going to happen!"

"I emailed my friends and all of the liberal web sites I could think of. It was Mike Malloy of Air America Radio who unknowingly provided the next much-needed step in this campaign. The day after receiving my email, he apparently talked about it on the air, with other hosts like Randi Rhodes joining in a few days later."

"In Arizona, a woman named Cynthia Black overheard Mike on the radio that night. Cynthia happens to be a major blogger, with her own diary on DailyKos.com. She posted the story and info, and the emails and phone calls to the florist poured in!"

"Responding to the flood of emails was time-consuming, but I was so grateful for the responses that I answered every one of them. It was important to me that people knew I was just one person, not even an activist, really, who happened to set a wheel in motion. No one backed me, I was with no group or club, and I certainly wasn't a corporation!"

"I received a call from Senator Boxer this past Friday. I told her that the grassroots response had been overwhelmingly positive, that we'd received emails from every state and even a few from abroad. She was gracious and very moved. She said she plans to keep just a few of the roses and will be sending the rest to the VA hospital for the `people who have been casualties of this administration's disastrous policies.' She told me she's looking forward to seeing Secretary Rice again this Thursday and said `Boy, do I have some questions for her!'