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Friday, April 5, 2024
A political operative? What’s that? I guess someone behind the scenes who makes things happen.
I had been an editor at several Republican and Democratic national political conventions but had never gotten my own hands dirty in politics.
I had my chance in the U.S. Senate race in 2014 in South Dakota. I knew next to nothing about the state, but a friend, Larry Pressler, asked me to help his candidacy.
Pressler had served as a Republican senator there from 1979 to 1997. This time he was running as an independent.
At first I only ran his Facebook page, but I thought it would be fun to hit the campaign trail, so I flew to Sioux Falls on my own dime. Retired as a journalist, it was now OK for me to work on a campaign and take sides.
I had never seen Larry so vibrant as in a political campaign. I remember him visiting an event where tractors were on display and being thanked profusely for getting a woman’s mother federal benefits.
The big break came when one of the polls showed Pressler running neck and neck with Gov. Mike Rounds, a Republican, and Democratic Rep. Mike Weiland. Suddenly, his candidacy was national news. Larry’s biggest selling point was his reputation for honesty. During the Abscam investigation of Senate corruption, he was the only member of Congress in a sting operation to flatly turn down a bribe.
I think my biggest contribution was in contacting the FBI agent who led the probe and helping persuade him to come to South Dakota to campaign for Larry. He paid his own way out and gave at least one speech, but poor health forced him to leave the campaign, and he died a few years later.
Perhaps the oddest moment came in an appearance at a Sioux Falls library. As we sat down to hear the speeches, one of the candidates disclosed that he had a weapon — maybe a gun — with him. Apparently, the library scanners can detect overdue library books but not weapons. I was appalled, but most of the people there took it in stride.
Pressler lost the election to Rounds, hurt particularly by his support for President Obama in a very Republican year nationwide.
So for two weeks I was a “campaign operative.” Does that qualify me as a political expert who will pontificate about the national issues of the day? Not in this column. Nope!
Party Time in the Capital
Sports fans have the Super Bowl. Churches have Easter. The Washington media have several big dinners. Presidents often attend, making self-deprecating jokes to endear themselves to the press. Liquor flows, and so do unfortunate remarks.
I was at a Washington Press Club dinner that made national headlines in 1985, when a drunken John Riggins, Washington Redskins’ running back, slid under the table. Nearby was Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. “Come on, Sandy, baby. Loosen up. You’re too tight!” he is said to have uttered, though I didn’t hear it.
At another, I had the more serious honor of helping carry James Brady and his wheelchair to the head table when I was the club’s secretary. Brady had been partially paralyzed in the shooting attack on President Reagan.
The challenge for members of these groups has been to invite the most prestigious guests to impress their bosses. This has gotten even worse now, when they are expected to bring rock stars and movie stars as well as politicians. I hated this, hesitating to beg news sources for favors. What would they want in return?
My favorite guest was Rep. Millicent Fenwick, the cigar-smoking congresswoman who was the inspiration for Lacey Davenport, a character in Doonesbury. Another who accepted my invite to the White House Correspondents Association dinner was the deputy Treasury secretary, but he bowed out at the last minute. The Treasury’s public relations director, Anne Dore McLaughlin, sent her husband, a Roman Catholic priest, in consolation. My bosses, who were looking forward to the other guy, were disappointed when the priest sat down.
But he made good conversation even if he wasn’t well known. Within a few years, the priest became one of the most famous TV pundits of the era. He was John McLaughlin, host of the McLaughlin Group!
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