Politics

Last night I attended a Q & A for the six candidates of my district who are running for a state House seat. The 43rd District is a hotbed of Democrats who believe, sensibly, that everyone should be educated, have access to health care and be able to breathe the air.

The candidates were really terrific. If five of them had been randomly abducted by flag burners or abortionists, the remaining one would have been a strong candidate. The Speaker of the Statehouse gave a wonderful opening talk as well.

For me, three highlights.

Bill Sherman, who served in Clinton's Dept of the Interior, shamed the all-Democrat audience by mentioned that the performance of Washington's schools is ranked with those of Alabama! A hush descended on the Town Hall: even Laptops and Blackberries stopped clicking. Such audible pain. Alabama! Oh. My. Goddess.

Candidate Jim Street was dedicated to being the candidate focused on transportation. To his credit, he didn't make ONE joke about his name.

The Speaker of the House, Frank Something, watched the proceedings from the wing where he was pestered by intern types. He was whipping out his card like deadly ninja stars in a Jet Li film. His highlight was the question that he asked the candidates: "In the nearly unavoidable event of a severe budget shortfall, what programs would you cut?" The poor sucker who fielded that first must have been anticipating a softball. He spent, no kidding, fifteen seconds doing the very painful "I'm-a-fish-out-of-water" cheek sucking action getting his answer together.

A screaming fastball at your own teammate's head- now that's my kind of politics.