Last night I had my own entourage as Chris and Mel went with me to Grand Rapid’s Reif Center to hear the first debate I wasn’t invited to. I was given permission to hand out my flyers by Roger Moe and was pleased when half a dozen of the people there said they’d seen me on last week’s Almanac program. All said they were favorably impressed. Even more people expressed displeasure to hear that I was being excluded from the Reif Center debate.
The three of us wrote down questions on slips of paper provided us and passed them to the moderators. One of the moderators, Larry Oakes, the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s reporter in Duluth asked the candidates whether they would be willing to have me included in future debates. Jim said nice things about my presence last week and both of them said that it would be OK with them if I joined in. (It was my question surprise, surprise) There was really no other graceful answer that they could have given but it was nice to hear them say what had to be said. It gives me a little more fodder for my continued campaign to get on WDSE this Friday. My push to be included will boost the debate’s viewership just as my exclusion will be a black eye for its sponsors.
The folks to email on my behalf are:
Editor Robin Washington rwashington@duluthnews.com and/or
Publisher Marti Buscaglia mbuscaglia@duluthnews.com
Please remember, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. The Fourth Estate will require solid, logical reasons to change their mind and include me. Be firm but be polite.
