Graham Colton: This Time

“Thanks for coming, Jerry. Great to meet you. See you soon!” So said State Senator Dan Rutherford, though my nametag clearly was correct and readable. This was on the 30th floor of the Hilton in Springfield, tonight from 5:30-7:30. It was a Republican “networking event” thrown by Rutherford, for $35 a ticket and an open bar, despite the fact that he is not currently running for anything. This was the second Rutherford event in recent months, the other at Harry Caray’s in Chicago, with a line “down the stairs, out the door and around the block” and Rutherford is not from Chicago. Or Springfield. Some say he’s running for Secy. of State in 2006. Some say Governor. Either way, he’s running for something, and he’s doing it now. On a personality test, he’s break the equipment. Bar none, he is the most exuberant, on-the-ball, in-the-zone, insane but in a good way, passionate, politician I have ever come across. This fact is ascertained in the first thirty seconds of him entering your vision.

Rewind.

I got to the Champaign County Senior Republican Headquarters a little later than I said I’d be there, but still early. At 9AM there was an event that had all the people running for offices in Champaign County briefly speak at to warm up the crowd for the main attraction: U.S. Senate candidate Jack Ryan. The host was a little crazy and kept interrupting Jack and saying unimportant things, but the things of a County Organization President, the things that show you that he loves his middling job and the little power it provides. He was a character.

Jack spoke for about a half-hour, about the things that matter to these seniors, things that were written in their charter, things like national security, health care, social security, and a host of others. He did everything right. He was flawless, and not in a wool-pulled-over-the-eyes way, he actually came across as sincere, something that would continue throughout the day. He took questions ranging from local to national issues and did his best to adequately answer them. He gave more specific answers than Jim Oberweis did a week before when I met him, when he didn’t answer my questions.

Some seniors assumed I was with the campaign and began talking with me about how to win the county for Jack. “Get Frank Welch and Ruth Gordon tied up and you have the county. They’re the best.” I got a laugh out of this, as I was not with the campaign, but only was tagging along with two group members for a class project.

Then to Dunkin Donuts to sew up a key county endorsement in the empty establishment. The few people that walked in, which coincidentally included a reporter for local Channel 3 news, seemed not to know that a Senate candidate was there. But that was beneficial, for it was not a stop, but a “meeting.”

Then we went to Monticello, half and hour away, to meet with the Piatt County Board and to attempt to get their endorsement. Jack repeated a lot of the same stuff, which is expected, but impressed me by spouting off arcane (to me) and specific information about farming and growing crops. He seemed to knock out the Board members and they all were enthusiastic about him taking the time to come in. Then we sped off, literally, to Springfield for a lunch meeting that we were going to be late for.

Once in Springfield, the campaign manager and I parked both our cars and met Jack and my groupmate Erica in the private dining room of a nice-looking restaurant. There, were a newly acquired staff member and a prospective one, and two big-time Springfield lobbyists. Jack spent the hour talking with them, and I heard some of the same things I heard earlier, but I enjoyed my free lunch immensely.

Then we went to the hotel lobby where Jack would stay overnight. Saw Oberweis’ campaign manager who a week earlier had lied to me about Jack in an attempt at personal negative campaigning. She did not know I aligned with the opponent at the time and recognized me but luckily did not say anything then or later when I saw her again. Talked with the prospective staffer and the newly acquired one extensively while Jack was in two meetings across town.

Erica and I then spent some time going over our project format and decision-making before we had the Rutherford event. Went to the Capisce Restaurant atop the Hilton and let the networking begin. Jack asked us to walk around with him and a few times introduced us to people he talked with. Met a lot of county chairmen, saw Judy Baar Topinka, talked with my State Senator Christine Radogno and Rep. Eileen Lyons. Lyons acted as if she had never heard of LT or the fact that she came to my Econ class three years ago (it was the only time she had done it, and acted as if I were speaking Venusian) despite the fact that A) I am a constituent and B) her district is I think only LaGrange. But Radogno seemed very interested in my class project and talked with me for a good 7 minutes.

Then the Secret Service swept through, though I didn’t notice because they are supposed to blend in, and in came Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert, whom I was honored to meet and told him so. His face was redder than anyone’s I’ve ever seen and shortly after he passed I distinctly smelled wet dog. Then before I knew it Jack had disappeared with the Speaker and me, Erica, Campaign Manager and the two staffers spent a half hour looking for him within a two-block radius. Afterwards, it was approaching a 14-hour day, so Erica and I exchanged some information with the staffers and were invited to the primary Party in March in Chicago. Also we tentatively set up a time when Jack could come in and speak to our class. It was truly amazing to spend so much time with the campaign, to see the ins-and-outs that no book provides and to pretty much spend hours among a group of just four. I spent a lot of time with Jack and we talked extensively. It was the first time I had ever had the experience and it was wicked crazy. I am absolutely convinced that not only will Jack win the primary, but that he absolutely deserves to, is the best candidate in the field and will eventually win the General and will be an incredible Senator. His stances are all well-established and he is absolutely sincere. He is the candidate that we all have been pining over, though maybe not of the ideological stripe some of my friends would like, but one with honest answers, killer persuasion and it is obvious he is absolutely sincere; he rejects spin and puts himself out on a ledge with some issues, like the death penalty, that show he is a risk-taker in the game of politics.

Long day, but great day.