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I’ve been running for Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional Seat since 1992 but I was thinking about running since I first moved to Duluth a day after my wedding in 1974.

To say it was a different age is quaint. Vietnam, which I had been arguing was a stupid place to fight a war since high school, was about to fall. Richard Nixon had resigned the presidency in disgrace. I was about to humiliate myself as a teacher. And there was all that new husband stuff.

I have found it handy to have a sense of humor during the following 52 years. Northeastern Minnesota was a Republican desert although many of its lonely cactuses were liberals like me.

I had no idea that I would embark on one of the most eccentric political histories in, well, history. I had no idea that the Republican party I joined because my friends seemed to be sneering at my family would betray my family or my nation.

As all these things transpired how was a guy like me supposed to explain it? Harry Welty started writing about it.

He had discovered the power of storytelling in high school. Editing took longer.

When Duluth Indivisible gave him a chance to introduce himself to the entire Eighth Congressional District, he dusted off a few thoughts. It was an hour-long job interview with the voters. I was not alone.

There are currently half a dozen challengers to Republican Pete Stauber.

I was the only Republican at this event as Pete has turned a blind ear and a deaf eye to Trump doubters. I enjoyed myself immensely.

I said what was on my mind. The Republican party’s flirtation, infatuation and enslavement to a morally and fiscally bankrupt braggart is a betrayal. I will not rest until it ends.

That probably explains why 10 days after breaking my back and hip from a nine foot fall last October, I began hobbling across Duluth knocking on doors to win a school board election.

Like the guy who beats his head against a brick wall, I keep waiting for it to knock some sense into me.
I put a link to my hour on my blog lincolndemocrat.com. That link will also take you to the Democratic candidates: John Paul McBride, Manny Anastos, Trina Swanson, Cyle Cramer (Cramer dropped out of the crowded race last week and endorsed Trina Swanson).

There will be more. I have no idea who will win the Democrat’s nomination or primary.

Although I have yet to file, I will primary Pete.

As per usual, I want Democrats to vote for me in the Republican Primary. I explained why this is a tactically smart thing for Democrats to do.

Zooming was as close as I’ve gotten to an invitation to explain myself in someone’s home. When I was asked if I would talk to voters if I was elected, I said absolutely. I told the audience that if I’d been in Pete’s shoes when hundreds of protesters gathered outside his office waving signs, I’d have gone outside to shake their hands. 

By election time I think every voter, even Republican voters, will be up for grabs.

My theory has been that Trump has been painting himself into a corner and that getting reelected would leave him naked behind his paint roller.

When asked if I would vote to impeach Trump, I said he certainly deserved it but added I thought we would be better off if he had to stay prisoner in his gold- plated White House.

I wasn’t that poetic. I said I didn’t want a President Vance. I added that if democrats helped me win the GOP primary it would probably help the Democratic candidate.

Why?

Well, I asked, would Trump groupies elect a Trump basher? I said it was more likely that they would skip the congressional ballot. But would they?

I have faith that if voters outside of Duluth came to see me as my fellow Duluthians see me, they might take a chance on me. If, that is, I really am a truth teller. That’s what they did for Trump. Now more of them know better. Gas prices are going up.

Republican votes may be up for grabs. Marjorie Taylor Greene is suddenly seeing things my way.
And Democrats? They can’t take anything for granted either. Young voters especially are sour about both parties.

This video is the first time in seven campaigns for Congress that people have had access to a video that makes me an equal. That didn’t happen when we had newspapers!

And I am not a completely unknown quantity. This year 200,000 people shared a photo of my snow sculpture of a smiling Renee Good in her Honda Pilot with her last words “I’m not mad at you.”

I’m not just contrary. I give a damn.

Watch the video on: Lincolndemocrat.com.