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THE QUOTE

“It’s useless to hold a person to anything he says while he’s in love, drunk, or running for office.” — Shirley MacLaine

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THE CANDIDATE AND THE TREE

One of the advantages of being a relative newcomer to Bloomington is that I’m still hearing the town’s lore with a fresh ear.

For instance, I had a sit-down with a long-time local pol the other day. We tried to impress each other with our predictions of how the election would turn out. We pretty much agreed on all the races save for Shelli Yoder, whom I backed even though I knew she was going down hard.

If At First…

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BTW: I told the pol that Shelli should view this election the way a baseball manager looks at spring training games. It’s only practice. Yoder will be a force in South Central Indiana and, eventually, statewide politics for years to come. I threw a hunk of chum out: What about Governor Yoder?

My pal the pol shook his head. That tears it for me: Yoder’s future doesn’t lie in the executive branch. But she’ll be a legislator. My bet is she starts thinking statehouse for 2014.

Anyway, my pol friend and I agreed, pre-vote, that Tea Party sweetheart Richard Mourdock’s spectacular flameout was the biggest surprise of the race. He tanked his bout with Joe Donnelly for the US Senate when he tried to channel the thoughts of his god vis a vis rape, pregnancy, and abortion.

Mourdock Watches His Chances Slip Away

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“Man,” the pol said, “he really drove his car into a tree, didn’t he?”

I nodded, figuring the pol was simply using colorful language.

“You don’t know what I’m referring to, do you?” he asked.

I shrugged.

“Okay, I’ll tell you. You’ve heard of Frank McCloskey, right?”

Naturally. Frank McCloskey is a legend in these parts. He started out his adult life as a newspaper reporter in both Indy and Chicago and then, improbably, became the first Democratic mayor of Bloomington in 1971, after years of GOP dominance here. He was reelected mayor twice and then decided to try for a seat in the US House from what was then Indiana’s 8th Congressional District, also known as the Bloody Eighth.

A Legend

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The District, you see, had been notorious for upstarts unseating incumbents. Still, McCloskey wasn’t expected to win. He was running against the Reagan economy in 1982 and even though this immediate area had suffered under rising unemployment figures and Reagan-era service cuts, well, a smart politician in Indiana didn’t run against Saint Ronald.

The two-term incumbent Congressbeing, a fellow named Huey Joel (Joe) Deckard, was fused at the hip with Reagan. My pal the pol can take over the story here. “Oh, Deckard was a winner,” the pol says. “All he had to do was keep his mouth shut and not do anything stupid. Famous last words, huh?

“So, one night he was driving home and he crashed his car into a tree. The police got there, took one look at him and knew he was drunk. They ran him in and he refused to take a blood test. Well, this was huge in the newspapers and on TV the next morning. He got hit with a driving under the influence charge and just like that his lead started disappearing.”

Deckard In 2010 (Herald-Times Photograph)

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McCloskey won, of course, and went on to make a national name for himself by opposing Reagan’s Star Wars scheme and George H.W. Bush’s first Iraq War. He fought for an assault weapons ban and called for US intervention to stop the atrocities in the Balkans in the early 90s. He was as big a liberal as could be found in Congress.

Ironically, McCloskey was challenged twice by Richard Mourdock, in 1990 and 92, repelling the coal mining company executive both times. McCloskey would lose his seat in the 1994 election, AKA, the Republican Revolution.

McCloskey had a nice run, though. And he owed it all to a tree that jumped into the road in front of his opponent.

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The only events listings you need in Bloomington.

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Thursday, November 8th, 2012

LECTURE & DISCUSSION ◗ IU Poynter Center — Photographing Patients: Clinical and Ethical Considerations, Led by John Woodcock; 4-5:30pm

MUSIC ◗ IU Ford-Crawford Hall — Master’s Recital: Hannah Robbins on viola da gamba; 5pm

MUSIC ◗ IU Auer Hall — Doctoral Recital: Gulrukh Shakirova on piano; 5pm

MUSIC ◗ IU Sweeney Hall — Doctoral Lecture/Recital: Joy Yeh on harp; 5pm

LECTURE ◗ IU Woodburn Hall — Burke Lecture Series: “Performing Painters: Hands, Brushes and Palettes at Work,” Presented by Philip Sohm of the University of Toronto; 5-6pm

LETTERS ◗ Rachael’s Cafe — National Novel Writing Month Write-In; 6-9pm

MUSIC ◗ The Player’s Pub — Cathy Gutjhar; 6:30pm

FILM ◗ IU Cinema — “The Intruder“; 6:30pm

CLASS ◗ Bloominglabs — Intro to Programming; 6:30-9pm

CELEBRATION ◗ IU Kirkwood Observatory — Carl Sagan Day, Tour the observatory, Miscellaneous activities, Refreshments, Presented by the Secular Alliance at IU; 7pm

BENEFIT ◗ Oliver Winery — Concert: “The Life and Bassoon Works of Roger Boutry“; 7pm

OPERA ◗ IU Musical Arts Center — “Cendrillon (Cinderella),” Presented by IU Opera Theater; 7pm

MUSIC ◗ Muddy Boots Cafe, Nashville — Tom Shinnes; 7-9pm

MUSIC ◗ IU Musical Arts Center Recital Hall — Chamber Music Stduio Recital: Stduents of Sung-Mi Im; 7pm

MUSIC ◗ IU Ford-Crawford Hall — Five Friends Master Class Series: Judy tarling on Baroque viola and violin; 7pm

MUSIC ◗ Bloomington High School North — Fall Concert: “Remembering Our Heroes,” Performed by the Southern Indiana Wind Ensemble; 7-8:15pm

STAGE ◗ IU Halls Theatre — Drama, “Spring Awakening“; 7:30pm

STAGE ◗ IU Sweeney Hall — Comedy, “Alfred Hitchcock’s 39 Steps“; 7:30pm

STAGE ◗ Bloomington High School North — Comedy/drama, “Ondine”; 7:30pm

FILM ◗ IU Radio/TV Center — “Through the Gift Shop,” Presented by the IU Folklore and Ethnomusicology Student Association; 7:30pm

COMEDY ◗ The Comedy Attic — Greg Hahn; 8pm

MUSIC ◗ Max’s Place — The Hot Carls; 8pm

MUSIC ◗ IU Auer Hall — Doctoral Recital: Soojin Joo on piano; 8pm

FILM ◗ The Bishop — “Handmade Nation“; 8pm

MUSIC ◗ IU Musical Arts Center Recital Hall — Doctoral Lecture Recital: Matthew Cataldi on piano; 8:30pm

MUSIC ◗ The Bluebird — Rumpke Mountain Boys, Trashgrass CD release party, New Old Cavalry; 9pm

FILM ◗ IU Cinema — “Holy Motors“; 9:30pm

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ONGOING:

ART ◗ IU Art Museum — Exhibits:

ART ◗ Ivy Tech Waldron Center — Exhibits through December 1st:

ART ◗ IU SoFA Grunwald Gallery — Exhibits through November 16th:

ART ◗ IU Kinsey Institute Gallery — Exhibits through December 20th:

ART ◗ IU Mathers Museum of World Cultures — Exhibits:

BOOKS ◗ IU Lilly Library — Exhibits:

ARTIFACTS ◗ Monroe County History Center — Exhibits:

The Ryder & The Electron Pencil. All Bloomington. All the time.

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