I’ve just made out my campaign calendar which I always do after I’ve filed for office. It is amazingly short – two months long. I love sprints. It is only the fight against the Red Plan that taught me I can handle marathons too – ULTRA marathons.
A campaign for DFL legislative candidates is amazingly short in NE Minnesota. If they are opposed at all its settled by the primary. Only one or two legislative districts have had serious Republican contenders in the last three decades. This year that might be a little different in Duluth. People are so angry in Duluth over the Red Plan that a DFL candidate perceived as Red Plan friendly, which Roger Reinert certainly is, might face an energized public with an axe to grind. If it comes to that I won’t have to worry about being out flanked by Rilla Opelt a long time acquaintance of mine. Rilla may or may not have bought a ticket to one of Let Duluth Vote’s spaghetti fundraisers but if so I don’t remember seeing her there.
Since August 10th is the critical primary election day I can begin two things in earnest after winning. First I can begin calling all the other legislative candidates in Minnesota and introduce myself and my cause for justice on the Red Plan. When January rolls around I won’t have to explain a thing about the shennanigans in Duluth. I’ll have plenty of work ahead of me but the heavy lifting will have been completed.
Second I’ll be able to begin writing my book “The Amazing Colossal Red Plan.” School will have started and I won’t have grandkids underfoot. My wife might even have enrolled in some seminary classes by that time. I’ve always planned on having the book ready by Christmas for additional sales. I’ve already got three quarters of a million words banked. My chief job will be to trim them all back to a readable 70,000 paperback size.
I supposed I’ll have to worry about having someone crawl out of the gutter like Ralph Doty did two years ago and blacken my name a day or two before the primary election but I’m not too worried about that. (here’s a second example) The voters probably all know the epigram: “Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.”
Besides, Ralph has retired from the Budgeteer.
