Desperately dialing for dollars

Monday January 14, 2008
What would Minnie Minoso do?
So how desperate are GOP presidential candidates, who fear that the 2006 congressional results will carry over to the 2008 White House race and end their eight-year grip?
They’re so serious that I’m apparently on a first-name basis with Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, who’ll be out of the picture on February 6 if he doesn’t have a decent showing in the “Super Duper Tuesday” Republican primary the day before.
There I was, sitting at my desk here in the Capitol a few minutes before noon. I picked up the ringing phone and announced my name. A computer program caused a five-second audio delay and then, there was Romney, saying “Hello Ken.”
It was shocking until I realized, after three words, he was scripted and recorded, so I couldn’t get a word in edge wise. I didn’t know he cared enough to realize that A) I’m an unaffiliated voter and B) I was sitting at a business phone.
First, I was going to use my usual prerogative when it comes to robo calls: slam down the phone quickly with no comment. But since the Connecticut Blog-o-rama needs grist for the mill, I hung on and put the tape recorder near the receiver. So I did what Minnie Minoso would do: take two and hit to right field.
“….To do that, it’s going to take someone with a proven record of confronting and turning around seemingly impossible situations,” Mitt confided to me. “I’ve turned around the toughest situations in business and the Olympics and as governor. Now it’s about time to turn around and bring change to Washington. And I need your help to insure that I have the resources that I need to win in Connecticut and other key states across the country.”
There was another pause and an obvious change in recording quality as the campaign software inserted “Ken” into “will you make a contribution to help me win? It’s quite easy. Simply press 1 on your phone or call …..”
I don’t feel like including the contact information here. But it’s so early in the election year, maybe I’ll end up voting for a politician who everyone knows by a first name that’s a synonym for a baseball glove. I loved my first mitt: a Minnie Minoso six-finger model from 1959 or 1960. I wish I still had it.
In 1960, the Cuban-born Minoso played in all 154 games for the Chicago White Sox, had 184 hits and batted .311. He had a 17-year career, 186 homers and a .298 lifetime average.
So now that Mitt Romney knows me, what IS his real first name? Oh yeah, Willard.

Speaking of political long shots, the Green Party of Connecticut met in Norwalk on Sunday and nominated Richard Duffee of Stamford, described as a retired lawyer and “impeachment activist,” to run for the Fourth District seat occupied by Republican U.S. Rep. Chris Shays.
Democrat Jim Himes is also angling against Shays.
Duffee, in a statement from the Green Party, will touch on the issues you’d expect from the Greens, who throw – unlike Minnie Minoso – from the starboard side of the political mound. Using single words, those subjects include Iraq, Iran, Bush, nukes and – now two words, global warming.
“We need a government based on trust, openness, honesty, and
disinterested public action. It is clear that Bush and Cheney regard
us not as citizens, but as subjects, using all the techniques of
ruling an empire—secrecy, deceit, betrayal, fraud, mystification, and
violence,” Duffee said. “These are inherently incompatible with the moral
prerequisites for maintaining a Republic based on the rule of law. Christopher Shays is guilty of breaching his oath of office by supporting a criminal president and vice president. He may be guilty
of crimes against peace in his pursuit of the Iraq War.”