I feel the pulse of the district with each person I talk to, each call I make, each moment that passes. Bean is now surging and it looks like she will overtake Crane. We have him under 50 percent and momentum keeps heading our direction.
I continue my worm's eye look at this crucial House race. While I am a transpalanted New Yorker, I feel this distrcit
What a rush. There is nothing better than waking up on a surprisingly warm October day with the adrenaline pumping, knowing that today you will be on the campaign trail. I walked to the grocery store to pick up the papers and get some coffee. Having worked with Jack in the Dean campaign in both Missouri and Wisconsin, I know exactly how he likes his coffee. I actually kicked the wet leaves on the sidewalk like I did when I was a kid.
Jack picked me up and could tell I was in a chipper mood. "This campaign is good for you," he noted. "It is good for me," I laughed. While my late wife is always on my mind, this campaign has given me more of a reason to get up in the morning.
I came in the HQ to the laughter, smiles and playfulness that accompany campaigns with momentum. I know of what I speak. I have been on campaigns where the eagles of fortune are mounted on our standards and I have seen ravens on them as well, croaking about our coming defeats. This is a campaign that is going to win.
"Hey, the old man is back," one of the college volunteers said. "I am not the old man. That damn Congressman Crane is the old man," I said, bobbing and weaving in the crab style, throwing jabs and uppercuts like I was Archie Moore. Of course, if I told the kids about the "Old Mongoose," well, I would be the old man of the office. Bean herself is 42 and is full of energy. Having worked for Teddy Kennedy back in 1980, there are moments when I tell myself this must have been what it was like for JFK when he first ran for office in 1946. We have a lot of rising stars in the Illinois Democratic Party from Barak to Bean. Maybe Obama is presidential material. That alone is a rush. It feels like I am doing something for the future. That is why we fight. I remember Robert Gould Shaw who led the 54th Massachusetts infantry (the regiment shown in the splendid film Glory). "We fight for those whose poetry is not yet written," he wrote home to his parents. I thought of that last night when I played with my grandson yesterday and he grabbed on to a campaign button I left on my lapel.
Well the Bean team gathered around the table, planning out phone bank operations for tonight and the weekend, as well as canvassing for Saturday and Sunday. I was reminded in was no longer in New York when I suggested earlier canvassing Sunday and was met with incredulous glares. My duties here are strictly voluntary just as they were with Dean. Still, some of the brain trust know that I have been around forever and go out of their way to ask me for advice from time to time. I appreciate it, I really do. One of the gang knew someone who kind of remembered me from Paul Simon's team in Iowa who thought I ate too much doughnuts so I go out of my way to reinforce that impression with this team. They hand me an assignment for Saturday and Sunday. I had fought to lead a team out in the field; the worst place I could be right now would be behind a desk.
There is a scene in "August 1914" where Soltzinhtysn describes the elation of General Samsanov as he leaves the safety of HQ to get in the battle. I feel that same way when I go into action.
I went off to talk to a few labor guys (always tab the old metal polisher who is now a labor lawyer to talk to the union people !) and they were also optimistic. I can tell when these guys are just bsing; they are not here. They felt that Crane's negatives were so high that Bean could win with some help from them. I got them to pledge their people to help out a bit this weekend. A small contribution but one that can help, especially as other activists are scattered across the district doing the same thing.
I kid you not. This is a close race but we have the momentum. Good TV ads are running; polls have it 46 Crane-44 Bean. Crane's primary opponent crossed party lines to endorse Bean. We have Crane on the defensive about environmental issues. This could be a major upset in the making.
And the unions and group endorsements are important. Yesterday, the Metropolitan Alliance of Police and the International Association of Firefighters came out for Bean. Now those are the guys you want behind your back. The Firefighters went out of their way to praise Speaker Hassert as well which reinforced their image as a non-partisan outfit. Wonderful. We have guns and hoses behind us. So the Republicans take to the air but we are there too. Crane's team is launching a desperate last attack saying Bean wants to raise taxes by a trillion dollars. This last minute smear will not work; we have a great rapid response team. And the DNCC is dumping half a million in tv ads this weekend onto the Chicago market.
One of the union guys asked about Patrick Botterman who had done such an outstanding job on the 2002 campaign. I don't know much about him besides his work for Carol Moseley Braun's presidential bid. I mentioned that and was surprised by the reaction. "You know," one of the guys said, "I was sick of her because she seemed a disappointment after the promise she had shown in 1992. I was glad to see her go in 1998. I thought her presidential campaign would be a joke. But she impressed me in the debates. I was leaning to Gephardt or if he failed Kerry but she impressed me." He paused a moment before saying, "Illinois needs some good appointments from Kerry and she would be a great one." Yeah she would be. I had hopes for her as well and they appeared to be dashed. I am glad she found some measure of redemption this election cycle.
I came back to HQ and saw Jack. "How did it go?" I smiled and grabbed him by the head to give him a major league noogie on the top of the head before letting him go. "That good ?" he asked puzzled. Yeah, that good, I felt like telling him. Not just for the campaign but for me. Ponce de Leon was wrong. The Fountain of Youth is not lost in the wilds of La Florida. It is found in all of us when we embrace a cause bigger than ourselves.