Local Politics

We have an interesting race for mayor underway in St. Paul. For whatever reason, the campaigns have taken to calling me. Maybe it's because I keep telling them that I'm undecided. And to a certain extent, I am. Many progressives/DFL loyalists want to punish Kelly for his endorsement of Bush in 2004. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get over it.

Anyway, tonight's call didn't help. "May I talk to Peter?" "That's me," I replied, whereupon the caller launched into the script and read it badly with no breaks or pauses perhaps fearing that I might interrupt and kept reading about all the good things that Mayor Kelly has done while keeping taxes down and how will Chris Coleman pay for all the things he's promising and whatever else was on the script until she got to the end at which point she asked if Mayor Kelly could count on my support on November 8.

This was not a perky, enthusiastic campaign volunteer making the call. Nor was it someone who was paid enough to sound like a perky, enthusiastic campaign volunteer. Bored and hurried. A winning combination.

Maybe it's all a big racket. Perhaps the Coleman campaign paid for the call.