Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Oberstar Loses Seat

Longtime Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Congressman Jim Oberstar has lost his seat in the 7th Congressional District to GOP upstart Chip Cravaack.

Oberstar has been around for a long, long time. He was first elected to Congress in 1974. Oberstar was part of that wave of post-Watergate Young Turk Democrats who were elected that year.

When I was growing up in Thunder Bay, we received our American TV signals from Duluth, Minnesota. My parents would watch the local news from Duluth and Oberstar was one of those names that was often mentioned during the telecasts.

Over at National Review Online, Veronique de Rugy recounts an exchange she had with Oberstar when she testified before the House Transporation & Infrastructure Committee which Oberstar chaired. Oberstar surprised de Rugy by reciting poetry to her in French. Oo la la.

When de Rugy told Oberstar she had been in this country for ten years, he lamented not being able to spend ten years in Paris. Well, now he has his chance.

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