Sheehan breaks camp and lunches bus tour

Joking that she'd like to come back and run for mayor, anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan made the Texas capital her first stop on a cross-country tour to promote her mission to end the war in Iraq.

About 1,500 supporters greeted her at a rally outside City Hall. Local musicians sang protest songs while about two dozen supporters of President Bush demonstrated quietly across the street.

Sheehan pulled up stakes earlier in the day at Camp Casey, the site near Bush's ranch in Crawford named after her son who died last year in Iraq. "I really believe Camp Casey will be written about in our history books and Camp Casey will be given credit for ending the illegal occupation," Sheehan said.

She noted that she had visited Austin several times when her son was stationed at Fort Hood. "It's so hard to be here without him," Sheehan said, reports Houston Chronicle.

According to LA Times, the mother of a 24-year-old soldier who died in Iraq boarded one of three buses heading out on tour to spread her message.

"This is where I'm going to spend every August from now on," Sheehan said.

The group plans to stop in 25 states in the next three weeks, then take Sheehan's "Bring Them Home Now Tour" to the nation's capital Sept. 24.

Sheehan had vowed to stay in Crawford until Bush's month long vacation ended or until she could question him about the war that claimed the life of her son Casey and nearly 1,900 other U.S. soldiers. She missed a week of the protest because her mother suffered a stroke.