Jim Oberstar has represented Minnesota's 8th district longer than Jerry Brown hasn't been Governor of California. He was already a fixture in state politics when I moved from California to Minnesota the first time in 1983. I think I heard him speak, several times, during my "politics summer" in 1984, during the Mondale campaign. I'm not sure I ever liked him – he seemed like Minnesota's answer to the sort of "congressman-for-life" concept that one mentally associates with Appalachia. Then again, the 8th district is "da Range" – Minnesota's answer to Appalachia.
But he often took political stands that I understood and respected, despite his propensity for pork. I think he was right to feel that infrastructure issues were (and continue to be) crucial to revitalizing regional and national economies. On the other hand, he was positioned as pro-life (inevitable given the demographics of his district, I suppose), and I really disliked his opposition to free trade agreements. Still, those are positions that have little to do with one's credentials as a lefty. And… I learned just now, from the wikithing, that he was a linguist. No kidding. And he has a Master's degree in "European Studies." Really? How gauche. No wonder, in this contemporary politcal climate…
[broken link! FIXME] As of last night, Oberstar has fallen to a political newcomer with the typically unusual name of Cravaack ("typically unusual" meaning that I think that Minnesota's 8th district seems to have more than its share of unusual last names).
The 8th district is Dylan's home, the "north country." It's greater Duluth. It's the Boundary Waters – which Oberstar made into a National Park, I believe. It's Lake Superior, and the Iron Range, and rough, left-leaning Finns on snowmobiles. It's some of what I most love about Minnesota. And now it's gone and tea-bagged itself, for all the world to see. Lovely. What's become of what was once the nearly socialist character of rural Minnesota? It's been Bachmannated and now Cravaacked beyond recognition.
Feeling pretty pleased about being an expat.
[Below: a picture I took in Duluth, last year, during my back-in-the-USA-but-only-temporarily tour; looking northwest toward downtown, from "the Point."]
[broken link! FIXME]