“We’ll sleep when we’re dead”

Happy Wednesday morning, everyone.  Hope your week is going well!

I’m on the road again, as I have been asked to mentor a new team member for a couple of days.  She seems nice and I’m looking forward to getting acquainted, starting in about ninety minutes!

Unless you weren’t watching, or were glued to the Paris Olympics, the Kamala Harris presidential campaign held a rally in Philadelphia to introduce the candidate’s newly chosen running mate to the public.  He is Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota.  

I first learned a little about Governor Walz at the time when George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis over a minor legal situation.  Walz stepped up and assigned the state’s Attorney General to prosecute the officers involved with Floyd’s death, insisting that the case be handled by someone with thoroughness and impartiality.

Since his name came up as being under consideration for the VP slot on the newly formed Harris ticket, there’s been a lot of speculation, most of it humorous, about Governor Walz.  He seems to be the quintessential Midwesterner, filled with decency toward all and common sense for everything.  The jokes online about how he has “big dad energy” have been especially funny, but there is an element of truth in many of these comments.

Why did Vice-President Harris select him?  Only she can answer that completely, but after watching them together at last night’s rally, it seems clear that they get along famously (it’s hard to imagine anyone NOT getting along with Tim Walz), and share a great many sensibilities, despite coming from drastically different backgrounds.  Walz grew up on a farm, followed his dad into military service, went to college on the GI Bill (remember that?), served for 20 years as a schoolteacher (as is his wife) and football coach, then went on to serve in the House of Representatives before becoming Governor of Minnesota.

There were lots more prominent people whose names were in the mix to be chosen.  Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro appeared the front-runner, and will be a strong campaigner for the Harris-Walz ticket.  He clearly aspires to higher office.  Same with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a real superstar but also more suited for the top of the ticket.  One day both will run for President, a second time for Secretary Pete.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear was also on the “short list,” which made me feel good as a Kentuckian, but I think Andy’s path will be to run for Senate near the end of his second term as Governor.  Mitch McConnell has already announced he will not seek reelection, so the opportunity for Beshear is there.

Back to Walz, he gave a great speech to introduce himself to the national scene, and struck a lot of the right notes.  When he wistfully mentioned that there were 91 days left in the campaign, he said we we see everyone and be everywhere and at the end, he said, “we’ll sleep when we’re dead,” which I took as a nice reference to the late singer/songwriter Warren Zevon.

I liked him before, but I REALLY like him now!  Great compliment to Vice President Harris and would be the happy warrior every campaign needs!

So, as the saying goes, here we go, and we’ll sleep when we’re dead. 

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