Bringing It All Back Home

I finished my campaign with some door to door in Batesville, home of Hillenbrand Industries, and the place where I first got those subterranean homesick blues lo those many years ago. I was born in Batesville during the Cuban Missle Crisis. When my time comes, my people will probably plant me up on Stipps Hill in a Hillenbrand box. This was the place to wrap it up. So there I was, walking the pavement and thinking about the government.

In vote terms, this was not a significant activity, admittedly. Best guess suggests that there will probably be something in excess of 2,000,000 votes in this election tomorrow. Whatever few dozen folks I talked to aren't going to make a notable impact against a whole state full of voters.

However, this did give me a chance to talk to a young mother who was on her way out to church services to pray for guidance in tomorrow's voting. Hopefully that will include a small prayer for me.

I don't know if she's actually going to vote for me, though. That I personally asked for her vote and that she's obviously a loving and compassionate person might get me the vote.

However, she said that she's a fundamentalist Christian (though I'm not sure if she used that specific word), taking the Bible seriously as her main consideration in voting as in life. She asked about abortion and gay marriage. I doubt that my answers were quite what she would have wanted to hear.

Most people were just surprised to see a US Senate candidate personally show up on their door. Chances of Evan Bayh showing up door to door in Batesville would have to be awfully slim, I'd say.

The last door of the day and the campaign turned out to be a local Republican precinct committeman. He was preparing to go to the library to hang up some last minute signs.

Even as a party leader though, this fellow apparently had only barely heard of Marvin Scott, the Republican in this race. I left him with the last dozen or so brochures I had to take to the library. I made a point of finishing up my last campaign pitch with a few nice words about Senator Bayh, who seems like a pretty nice fellow.

For the last, last stop there was really only one place to go, back home to Laurel for a drink at the Long Branch, and one last chance to persuade the hometown crowd.

I've been a Libertarian for a long time now, since I was first eligible to vote for Ed Clark against Reagan and Carter back in 1980. And I still don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

So here it is: I've said my piece, and spread my call for constitutionally restrained government as far and wide as possible across the state. I've done the best I knew how to do with what I've had to work with. This is my best case.

So then, the judgment is in your hands. I humbly await your verdict.

Thanks for your consideration, and I would appreciate your vote.