In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in election season around here.  While I do not normally include such things (I have a blog in remission that does), the following seemed seasonal, photogenic, and . . . it was fun!  Oh, GOTV?  Get Out The Vote.  🙂

The Peak Supper Club, Clitherall, Minnesota

[The supervisor’s red maple was approaching peak as we left for . . . The Peak.]

[Bounding through the roly-poly of western Minnesota cornfields in the fall to . . . ]

[So, how do you get to The Peak?, I hear you ask.  Well, it’s about 25 miles from our house, at the base of Inspiration Peak (the 3rd highest elevation in the state).  You drive through Urbank, population 54, and continue until you’re within the vicinity of Clitherall, population 112.  So, now you know.]

[We were here for a little rock ‘n roll, a little dining – and some political stuff.  Jay Sieling and Jim Miltich are running for the Minnesota House in Districts 8B and 8A, respectively.]

[Jim just happens to be Anthony’s brother  – and you’ve seen Anthony many times in these pages . . . ]

[It’s a par-tay, so I ‘moosed’ be having fun!]

[Then Anthony teams with Jay.  We demand our candidates also be musicians.  🙂  ]

[Red wine and ‘Hallelujah,’ please.]

[The brothers Miltich, then Anthony flies solo.]

[Bonnie makes sure the candidates mind their p’s and q’s – and show up for the parade in Miltona!]

[Jim]

[And Jay, a lovely duo with a shared great hairstylist!]

Northrop Auditorium, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

[So, now it’s Friday, two days later.  The “steam” was coming off beautiful Lake Darling that morning as we prepared for a political trip to The Cities.  As usual, we hit a dense fog on the way to Osakis.]

[But we eventually made it.  Parked in our usual state hockey tournament ramp and meandered through Dinkytown.]

[And on to the mall at the ‘U.’  It was turning into the quite delightful day.]

[The look across campus to Coffman Memorial Union . . . ]

[But we were heading into the newly renovated Northrop Auditorium.  The ‘we’ were the supervisor, Jami, and Jami’s friend Ella.  I don’t recall being in Northrop since I took a freshman economics course there from Walter Heller, President Kennedy’s chief economic advisor, a mere 49 years ago.]

[We arrived early – by about two hours – to stand in line for the advertised appearances of Governor Mark Dayton, Senator Al Franken, and President William Jefferson Clinton.  Although Clinton was my boss for eight years, I don’t recall ever seeing him live?  And while standing in line, I noticed my cousin Barb Arrell, a St. Paulite, a couple groups behind us.]

[Exercising my predilection for photographing photographers, we later became BFF’s and e-mail pals.   OK, maybe not all that, but we learned she is Lara Leimbach, Senator Franken’s campaign photographer.]

[In line “selfie.”]

[Chillin’]

[We were protesting war when I left the ‘U’ in the late 60’s . . . and we’re still protesting war.]

[We sent Lara our photos of  her.  She was delighted – said she’s never on the receiving end of such missives.  🙂  ]

[After two hours of standing, we’re moving on in.  And I was now in a better position to see the protesters.  Oh, BTW, while we were standing in line, ‘they’ came by to make sure we had our RSVP’s and then handed us a ticket.  The supervisor, ever on the alert for such things, noted that people on the next switchback over had different color tickets.  She checked with one of the people holding such and discovered they had better seats!!!  Horrors!  The super immediately flagged down the ticket giver-outer to complain – we were here first, how come we got worse seats?  Well, they said it was an “oops” and brought us the correct tickets.  🙂  ]

[We’re in!]

[The young man above is from Blaine and was right behind us in line.  He was the super’s ‘assistant’ in assuring we got the correct tickets!]

[The super found Mike Obermueller.  He’s running for U. S. Congress in the 2nd District.]

[The supervisor spots Lara in front of us – they exchange contact information.]

[U of M students, obviously the brightest of their generation!]

[Steve Simon, candidate for Secretary of State.]

[Betsy Hodges, mayor of Minneapolis.]

[And then by big surprise, Senator Amy Klobuchar.]

[You didn’t know I was coming, did you?]

[Thank you!  Now go vote!]

[Followed by Governor Dayton . . . ]

[Followed by Senator Franken . . . ]

[Before giving way to the President . . . ]

[Senator Franken . . . ]

[The President in a rapidly evolving mosh pit.  Cousin Barb in the black and white stripes is making her way forward.]

[Looking back into the new Northrop.]

[Barb is fighting her way in – this is the best shot I got.  I was being jostled, lost a lens cap (found trampled on the floor), but I did see Barb stretch out and shake the President’s hand as I was being pummeled to the floor.  I’d lost track of Jami and the super in the crowd – Jami reported she got to shake Franken’s hand, the super said she got a salute and a big smile from him!  🙂  ]

[And these final three were taken by Lara – nice to see the difference in professional photography!  BYW, Jami’s t-shirt was a big hit and she posed for lots of pictures.]

[We rushed out as I wanted to get home in time for the Alex – Bemidji football game.  Bemidji is ranked No. 3 in the state in class 5A.  As the resident “black cloud,” I arrived about halfway through the 1st quarter just in time to see our quarterback get injured – and not return to the game.  Any chance the Cards may have had were gone then.  So, the only photos I got were of arrival (top) and leaving at halftime (the bottom two – I hadn’t eaten all day!)]

Conservatives say if you don’t give the rich more money, they will lose their incentive to invest. As for the poor, they tell us they’ve lost all incentive because we’ve given them too much money.  ~  George Carlin

Up next:  Would you believe . . . volleyball?