One Sided Debate

But last night it was Grams and Oberstar who didn’t get to my debate. I drove for two hours through a late October rainstorm south to Milaca where the Chamber of Commerce had scheduled a candidates forum. Oberstar and Grams were no shows but Jim at least had sent long winded answers to the three questions the Chamber had sent him in advance.

I introduced myself by explaining that my funding was a couple decimal points short of Oberstar’s and that I had to do things myself. Then I held out my camera and took a picture of myself on the stage. It drew a couple chuckles. The flash didn’t go off but with a little futzing on the computer it turned into a reasonable facsimile of the candidate.

I told the fifty or so folks that my name was Harry; that I’d been born in the most Republican state in the union, Kansas, smack dab in the middle the Democrat Harry Truman’s presidency. I explained that my parents had a lot of explaining to do. That drew another round of chuckles.

I’m not sure the crowd was there for the Congressional candidates. Mercifully, I was first and got to leave immediately afterward for the long drive home.

About the author

Harry is a ferociously good natured eccentric in Duluth Minnesota who detests traitors dressed up as Uncle Sam. You can find somewhat better edited writings of his at the Duluth Reader "contributors." page. The URL is:

https://duluthreader.com/contributors/h/84/284-harry-welty