Just a Few Thumbtack Observations About Tim Walz

      I'm laughing myself sick watching Trump and Vance and their handlers losing their shit over Tim Walz becoming Vice President Harris' running mate. To hear them talk, Walz going to the Naval Observatory would be Mordor on earth. Yes, children with full, happy stomachs. The horrors! But it only serves to show they fear Walz as much as they fear Harris, otherwise they wouldn't be acting like Curly Howard on Wild Hyacinth. Walz was the guy I'd hoped Harris would pick. So, I'm tickled pink.

     As I'd said, Walz will help Harris lock up the swing state of Wisconsin and, who knows, maybe even one or both of the Dakotas. Progressive voters and independents (and Never Trump Republicans) will look at Walz as one of their own and will resonate with his upper Midwestern folksiness. He's kind of the Prairie Home Companion on the campaign trail. He thinks and speaks quickly on his feet plus he's the guy that permanently attached to the Trump-Vance ticket the word "weird".

     But most importantly, Walz is an unabashed liberal counterweight that the Harris campaign desperately needs. 

     Now, one could say that Harris should tack right to center to get Republican voters who are sick of Trump and maybe she should. But Walz would keep in the progressive parishioners who may be alienated by Harris' inevitable rightward lurch. For years since getting elected in 2006 to Congress in what used to be a red district, Walz enjoyed a nice, safe. bland centrist record. He'd co-sponsored bipartisan legislation with Republican Tom Emmer and had even co-authored an op-ed with him.

     Then he got elected governor of Minnesota and, for his first term, we saw more of the same. But then, in 2022, everything changed. That was the year of the so-called "red wave" that saw Minnesota flip its state congress (the only one to do so that year). Then, with a new Democratic majority with  which to work, Walz let his liberal freak flag fly. Without having to worry about the usual Republican obstruction, Walz signed into law legislation that ought to be a model for every state.

     Using most of a $17.5 billion surplus (for which he can also claim credit), Walz got Minnesota's schoolchildren free breakfasts and lunches regardless of the family's income. He put sanitary products in the bathrooms of Minnesota's schools with an eye trained on curbing absenteeism..He allocated funding to improve the state's infrastructure. The hands-free driving law that saves lives. The list goes on and on.

     These were the very reasons why I hoped Harris would pick Walz. And I think, believe, that having Walz on the ticket will pay big dividends for Harris' campaign.