In a way, a group of anti-war protesters Thursday in downtown Lawrence got a boost before they even started.

U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, D-Lenexa, whose district includes eastern Lawrence, came out against President Bush’s plan to send more than 20,000 additional troops to Baghdad and western Iraq.

“He has? I’m so glad. That is fabulous. I had not heard that yet,” said Cammy Challender, who organized Thursday evening’s protest in front of the Douglas County Courthouse on behalf of the nationwide political action group moveon.org.

About 115 people held signs and called for Moore and U.S. Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Topeka, to vote against sending the troops and financing the surge.

“People are just waiting for this to be over. Wasn’t that what the vote was about in November? Does anyone dispute that? … I don’t think the president understands,” said Robert Bruce Scott, who drove from Manhattan to protest with Xiaobao Dang, from China, a Kansas State University Master of Business Administration student.

Protestor Rosalie Granger, 16, Scranton, Kan., holds a sign before the northbound traffic on Massachusetts Street neart the intersection of 11th and Mass streets Thursday night as she and others line the sidewalks in response to President Bush's Wednesday announcement of his support for sending more troops to Iraq.

Challender, who works as a case manager for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Douglas County, said she organized the event in about 48 hours and that it included members of moveon.org, True Majority and the Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice.

Holding peace signs, the protesters spread along the sidewalk next to Massachusetts Street for about one block and received several honks and encountered no apparent counterprotesters. They held up signs that insulted Bush and the administration’s plan. Most dismissed it as an escalation of the war.

“What goes on there, it’s a war machine. Things do not change by just putting more violence into a violent situation,” said Carol Pilant, of Lawrence. “This isn’t enough. It’s too little, too late.”

The protesters also shouted several chants that asked Moore and Boyda to do what they could to either stop the troop increase or vote against funding it.

Moore’s office released a statement Thursday afternoon.

“I was hopeful that President Bush would understand that the American people are ready for a new direction with our involvement in Iraq. Unfortunately, the president’s new strategy is more of the same,” the statement said.

The protesters also apparently agree on that issue with Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., who said Wednesday the solution needed to be political and not a military one.

Lawrence resident Lora Jost holds a sign in protest of war escalations in Iraq along with others who line the sidewalk near the intersection of 11th and Massachusetts streets Thursday evening. The protestors gathered in response to President Bush's Wednesday announcement that he supports sending more troops to Iraq.

“He’s over there in Iraq. He made that announcement from there, and I think that has a lot of power,” said Challender, who was stunned by the conservative senator’s announcement.

Boyda has caught criticism in the past week from liberal Internet bloggers and received national media attention for comments last week that she made about voting to fund a troop surge even though she was critical of Bush’s handling of the war during her campaign.

“I think that Nancy Boyda was elected largely because we wanted a change in Iraq, and she needs to follow through on that for sure,” Challender said. “She needs to come out strongly, and she needs to come out on what her constituents want, which is not more troops.”

Boyda did question Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about the plan during a House Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday afternoon, but she had not yet made public her official stance on the Bush administration’s new Iraq plan, her staff said.