PETA’s Giant Vegetable to Meet and Greet at Historic Manchester Eatery.

Fresh from the campaign trail in Iowa, Chris P. Carrot, PETA’s 7-foot-tall mascot and candidate for president of the United States, will make an appearance at Manchester’s Merrimack restaurant on Friday, shaking hands, kissing babies, handing out "Eat Me!" buttons, and explaining why he’s the candidate who’s got what it takes to get to the root of America’s problems. Following a heart-friendly vegan breakfast, Chris P. and his running mate, Colonel Corn, will move on to a photo session at his "Vote for the Carrot! Chris P. Carrot for President" billboard at the corner of Elm and Dow. PETA’s candidates will be making appearances around Manchester throughout the weekend.

The following are just a few of the planks in Chris P.’s platform:

* Get the meat- and milk-pushing agribusiness conglomerates off the corporate-welfare "gravy train" and out of our schools
* Encourage Americans to adopt a healthy vegan diet that will save the nation billions of dollars in health-care costs and missed work days
* Put a soy-based Tofurky® in every pot!
* Add a 28th amendment to the Constitution that will protect the animals currently enslaved on factory farms, sliced open in laboratories, languishing in fur-farm cages, and beaten to perform in circuses
* Label all meat and dairy products to reveal that they contain dangerous pesticides and antibiotic residues, as well as — in the case of milk — pus!

Says Chris P.’s campaign manager, Joe Haptas, "Chris P. Carrot will help our kids grow up straight and tall, end the obesity epidemic, lower health-care costs, and restore Americans’ image as a proud, compassionate people."

Chris P. and his PETA entourage plan to travel throughout America and to the Democratic and Republican national conventions. For more information, please visit Carrot2004.com.