After 35 days, 19 states, more than 35 cities, 840 hours, 54 events, about 8000 miles, over 25,000 new supporters, and one exhausted, but inspired, team, this amazing journey, the “2006 Change Wal-Mart, Change America” bus tour ends today in Seattle. We have to say it has been one incredible ride from coast-to-coast.

In just five weeks, the American people and so many of our nation’s great leaders have stood up, spoken out, and called on Wal-Mart to change into a responsible employer.

We have been moved by our elected officials and their powerful words, but also by the countless people across the country who waved us over to their pick-up trucks, started conversations at gas stations, approached us in coffeeshops, diners, and on the street to ask about this tour and this movement... and to sign up!

So today, in Seattle, Senator Patty Murray, Senator Maria Cantwell, and Congressman Jim McDermott will host our final town hall at the Town Hall (no, we are not kidding, our last town hall is at the Town hall – how fitting is that). It will be a fantastic event and we invite you to come and enjoy the last tour stop, and join with us as we begin the next phase in this movement and America’s campaign to change Wal-Mart for the better.

And, we couldn’t imagine a better place to end the tour than Seattle.

How wonderful a city is Seattle? In just the last two days, folks in Seattle have signed up to this campaign in droves. In just a few hours, on Saturday and Sunday, over 2000 new supporters joined the movement! People just kept walking right up to us, grabbing clipboards, and signing their names. Yesterday, one new supporter asked if there was a space on the petition where he could write a message to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott to let him know he must immediately raise Wal-Mart workers’ wages. We told him that once he joined the movement, he would have infinite opportunities to tell Wal-Mart how and why the company must change.

And, with our supporters out in full force again today, all across the country at Labor Day festivals, rallies, and picnics, we know it will be an incredible day in the growth in the national movement to change Wal-Mart and change America for the better.

But today is also the last ride we will have on our beloved bus, “Smiley,” that has weathered the ins-and-outs of our tour (we’ll spare you the details of how dirty a bus gets after 35 days, but we will say that Paul and Chris wore bio-level 4 hazard suits just to clean it out.) While we have experienced our share of bumps and bruises that come from being bounced around in a big bus (next time we will wear padded suits to minimize the pain), there was probably no better way to meet thousands of Americans than in a big patriotic, colorful wrapped bus.

Our bus was a head-turning event all across this nation, and from restaurants to truck stops, from public squares to parking lots, it has helped build our movement in ways we could never imagine – so thanks, Smiley.

And now, as we prepare for our last Town Hall event in Seattle, we are as excited as ever about the future of this movement. From New York City on August 1st to today in Seattle, the American people, the ones that count, have supported this tour in amazing ways, and while we are little sad that this is the end of the tour, we are ready to have one more extraordinary event this evening.

So, if you’re in Seattle, see you tonight.