Second Place Hero

It is said that the peak 16 bus stops so frequently on University Avenue that anyone can match its speed at a leisurely walk. That Twin City denizens do not walk might say something about our aversion to peak-time leisure, or walking, or both. Typically we melt into our seats come quitting time and space out while the 16 walks for us, until that tingling sensation in our near-unconsciousness directs us to pull the cord and stomp out.

This day that sensation was preempted by a wrinkle-free fabric suit charging on the bus with a straw hat wrapped in red, white and blue. Humphrey help us, I hadn’t realized politicians actually used those anymore until I came here.

“Good afternoon everyone! I’m here to remind you all to vote on Tuesday, and to consider voting for me. I’m Bob Kessler, and I’ve got a new slogan: Why vote for a Wrestler, when you can Vote for a Kessler!?”

This, by the way, is 2001. That “Wrestler” whom the council member who would be mayor is referring to is Jesse Ventura, governor of Minnesota. Kessler’s clearly been hopping on and off buses all day, giving a version of this political commercial to every diesel caucus he can reach.

It wouldn’t work. Randy Kelly would win instead, a DFLer who would support Republicans, taking over for a DFLer who became a Republican while in office. In light of these defection and betrayals, we don’t have to think too hard to understand why the Democratic Party leadership would be tempted to turn back the clock to Mondale, who, if nothing else, was on record for winning Minnesota once upon a time.

Flash forward nearly a year to October 25, 2002, and you’ll see the man again, as I have, on University Avenue just outside the former campaign offices of Wellstone. He gets off the bus and turns up his collar - it’s certainly cold enough - and peers right past me into the haphazard mounds of campaign buttons, flowers, and candles. The 16 buses are running few and far between, even for off-peak, and when his rumbles over the bridge to Minneapolis, I hope that the spirit of the greener bus could empower even the Kessler.

It wouldn’t work. The wrestler would turn our grief against us and appoint a temporary independent. The party-switching former mayor would trounce the replacement candidate who already carried Reagan’s footprints on his back. To many, Minnesota had fallen.

But then an amazing thing happened: freed from the notion that this state was a bastion, we would think and vote harder than before. Later we’d lose again, and we would stand to lose a lot more.

I can’t guarantee that some of our people in the future won’t fool themselves into voting for a wrestler. But I know that they are all capable, as I am, of learning why they shouldn’t.