 
I am constantly astounded by confirmation of my gut instincts. I thought that voters would be fed up with Congress but I had no idea that almost everyone I talked to would say something about their desire to vote out the old. Its not that they think I’m any great shakes. To the contrary, they don’t really know me from “Adam’s off ox” (to quote Bill Clinton). But they want a change.
Today an old fellow saw me at the Lake County Fair and instantly recognized me. He said he loved my columns in the Reader and missed them. Wow. He was aware that I’d stopped writing them. But he told me that he’d have to vote for Jim Oberstar. That was the extent of the lovefest for incumbents. And that guy loved me!
We talked with a half dozen people who sounded very interested in getting involved in my campaign. We took down names. They have our websites. There is plenty of time for them to cool off but still, what a grand reception.
Mel and I passed out four or five hundred bookmarks on a gloriously sunny late summer day. We heard a rumor at the fair that after fifty years of living in the DC area Jim Oberstar was building a home on the North Shore. We drove by to check it out and when I ran across an old friend jogging on the highway a mile or so away from the supposed home I stopped and asked him about the rumor.
No, Jim will stay out East. Its an Oberstar relative who has moved to the Shore. Its nice to know, however, that Jim stops by to visit during elections years.
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