Herseth rally at McKennan Park

I attended the Herseth rally at McKennan Park last night, and Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson were both on the stage with her. Daschle had an interesting story about an old friend of his named Claude Pepper. Claude Pepper was a U.S. Senator and Representative from Florida, who advocated sharing our atomic bomb technology with Stalin in the months after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Daschle seems to tell the Claude Pepper story (recited below) quite frequently, as a Google search of "Tom Daschle" and "Claude Pepper" indicates. To wit from the Iola Register, a local paper in Kansas, reporting on Daschle's speech at Kansas State University a few weeks ago:

When [Daschle] was first elected to Congress in 1978 he went to Rep. Claude Pepper of Florida for advice. Pepper served first in the Senate, was defeated and then came back as a Representative and served for still another 25 years.

"I asked him if he had any any advice for me. He sat there rubbing his chin in his hand for so long I thought perhaps he hadn't understood my question. He had two hearing aids. I was about to repeat myself, when he looked up and said he did have something to share with me.

"Remember, it doesn't matter much whether you are an R or a D., a Republican or a Democrat. But it matters a great deal whether you are a C or a D; whether you are constructive or destructive."

Of course, one could also add an "O" for "obstructive." But perhaps "obstructive" is a subcategory of "destructive," as Tom Daschle seems to define being destructive as "blocking progress" according to this piece in the June 7, 2001 St. Petersburg Times:

Cs -- constructive leaders -- work together, whether they were Democrats or Republicans, Daschle said Pepper told him. Ds -- destructive politicians of both parties -- block progress.

(Emphasis added.) Thus, by his own definition, Tom Daschle is a destructive politician.

See the pics below. My apologies for their grainy quality. It was an overcast evening and I took them from some distance. The graininess stems from digital "enhancement" of the photos.

Apparently Dave Kranz will have a piece in today's edition of the AL about the rally (helpful hint: he's the guy in the middle scribbling in his notebook).

As always, there's the traditional raised handclasp at the conclusion of festivities.