(AP) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - One homeless man tried in vain to sleep on a park bench. Two others swallowed their pride as they went into restaurants, broke but hungry.
With no bathroom available, another one used the woods.
These were not really homeless men - just candidates for Nashville mayor who agreed to be homeless for a night before returning Wednesday to their real lives.
The candidates promised advocates for the homeless that they would spend one night on the streets before the Aug. 2 election.
The Nashville Homeless Power Project hopes the experience makes them more sensitive to the hundreds of people in the city with no place to live.
The four candidates who participated were Karl Dean, David Briley, Buck Dozier and Howard Gentry.
Other politicians around the country have done similar experiments.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
