Backed by the slogan “Not one more death; not one more dollar,” the Helena Peace Seekers will take to the Capitol on Wednesday to protest the war in Iraq.

U.S. casualties topped 2,000 dead on Tuesday.

Set as a milestone, the number triggered tonight’s Helena protest, which is one of 405 planned in 49 states.

Organizers of the vigil said on their Web site Tuesday that they hope to gain the attention of lawmakers “to say that the country’s pro-peace majority wants Congress to stop the deaths by stopping the dollars that are funding the war.”

The group has begun circulating a petition saying that U.S. military personnel continue to die in Iraq.

“More than 100,000 Iraqis have died since the U.S. invasion,” the petition states. “More than $200 billion has been spent to fund this war. Please end the war now by using the power given to you under the Constitution: stop the funding, close all military bases in Iraq, and bring the troops home. It is time to end the destruction and rebuild war-torn Iraq and hurricane-ravaged communities in the U.S.”

The vigil begins at 5 p.m. on the north side of the Capitol Building in Helena.