Marine in Iraq Elected in ND

Grand Forks Herald:

"We've got a raid going on right now, and I can't do anything for another 90 minutes. Can I call you then or is it too late?"

Thus went the e-mail from Maj. Mike McNamara from Fallujah, Iraq, replying to a request for an interview following his victory in the Grand Forks City Council Ward 2 race.

The race had been an intense one with four other candidates fighting for the same office and all of them having the advantage of being in town during the campaign.

Not that Mac, as he is often known, didn't have advantages of his own being both a local media celebrity - he's the host of "Mac Talk" on KNOX radio - and a Marine in a time when the military enjoys the most prestige it's had since World War II.

As things turned out, he had no problem wooing the voters. Mac got 49 percent of the 695 votes cast in Ward 2, the city ward with the biggest voter turnout. His closest rival was Jon Dorner, who had 19 percent of the vote.