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A stilted Uncle Sam, bedecked in patriotic finery, towered over the sidewalk in front of City Hall Thursday morning, holding a “For Sale” sign.

Flanked by a menagerie of masked and costumed dramatis personae, Charlie Pillsbury ’72, Green Party candidate for U.S. Congress, braved the chilling temperatures to make a Halloween push for votes.

Pillsbury made a series of campaign stops throughout the 3rd Congressional District yesterday to highlight his disdain for big business politics and to rally the unaffiliated vote he believes is key to a potential victory.

Other supporters costumed as Bill Clinton and George W. Bush donned prison stripes and preached the virtue of the status quo to passers-by on their way to work. In a separate character clique, Mr. Clean promised to clean up big government and a nurse promised improved health care for all.

In addition to New Haven, the “3rd District Traveling Halloween Roadshow” made stops in Middletown, Guilford and Milford.

“The independents will decide who is the next congressperson,” said Pillsbury. “There are a lot of people who want to change the way things are.”

Pillsbury, whose great-grandfather founded the cookie company of the same name, seized upon the holiday’s theme in his analysis of the body to which he is seeking election.

“We want to clean out the haunted House of Representatives,” he said, proclaiming to an unsuspecting pedestrian, “Happy Halloween, vote Green.”

Wearing a rubber Bill Clinton mask and carrying a sign reading “Government of, for, by the Rich,” Paul Hammer SOM ’85 said he believes Pillsbury and the Green Party are the solution to a perceived coalescence of Democrats and Republicans.

“We’re trying to make the point that the Green Party is the clean party,” Hammer said. “The Democrats and Republicans are basically in bed together.”

Victorya McEvoy, 47, wearing a George W. Bush mask and monstrous hands, agreed.

“I’m sick of not being represented,” she said, briefly lifting her mask. “The Greens speak for me — clean air, clean politics, clean living.”

Pillsbury believes his support of a universal health care system, proposed end to the “War on Drugs,” and anti-war stance make him an attractive candidate to voters.

“I’ll make New Haven proud,” he said.

Six-term incumbent and heavily favored Democrat Rosa DeLauro and Republican Richter Elser ’81, owner of Tibwin Grill, are the other candidates in Tuesday’s race. A recent poll shows DeLauro in the lead with 45 percent of the vote, Elser with 40 percent and Pillsbury with 15 percent.