Sen. George McGovern's 2/12 Milwaukee Appearance: A Family Affair

As readers of this blog may recall, I am in my personal life A) the father of Milwaukee 3rd District candidate Sam McGovern-Rowen, and B) the son-in-law of former US Sen. George McGovern.

I'm proud to be known as these folks' relatives. I've been called worse.

And I also was once a candidate, too, (for Madison Mayor), way back in another life, so that is why people say we are a political family, even though it is Sam's campaign this winter that has re-energized that identity.

Most of the time, I am just a humble blogger, shoveling snow in my spare time, playing peek-a-boo with my twin grandsons, and waiting for Opening Day.

Campaigns for families, shall we say, are busy times, and occassionally, with luck, in the midst of the work and hyper multi-tasking, moments arrive that can be memorable, even fun.

And I think George McGovern's Tuesday, 2/12 speech about the issues of the day at a rally for Sam at Turner Hall should be one of those moments.
I can remember when I was a mayoral candidate, my parents had a coffee for me in the house I grew up in out east, with long-time family friends in the living room, and it was an emotional experience.

Later, my Dad flew out to Madison, stood with me in deep snow out at Lot 60, and handed out leaflets as people got off campus buses.

That I can now do much the same for Sam is extremely rewarding: being the parent of a candidate, I discover, generates pride that is overwhelming.

George and Eleanor McGovern also came to Madison for a series of coffees for my campaign (for the record, I lost by 1,018 votes out of 65,000, but who remembers these details?) and again, those were memorable events because of the teamwork, and the love.

I didn't live in Milwaukee in 1972, the year that George won the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, but I am hearing that many of the McGovern volunteers are planning on coming to the Turner Hall event.

That should be a nice reunion.

My wife Susan and I were in Milwaukee for the primary, with our infant son Matt in tow. I remember getting to spend a day campaigning in the area with Leonard Nimoy.

Top that!

Anyway.

I'm happy that George is on Sam's schedule.

Details about the rally are on Sam's campaign website, here.