Do I Stand Alone?: Going to the Mat Against Political Pawns and Media Jackals - Hardcover

Chapter One: That Silent Majority

My first trip to the White House was a humbling experience. Terry and I had flown into Washington for the annual Governors' Association conference, which included a dinner at the White House. When we walked in that enormous front door, we just stood there for a moment, in awe. I remember thinking to myself, my God, this is where it all happened. This is where Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy made history.

When you arrive at the White House, you go through a receiving line to meet the President. Then you go into the dining room, where they have place cards that tell you where to sit. To help mix things up socially, you don't sit with your spouse. That makes it kind of fun. After dinner you go into the next room for the entertainment and dancing.

When we were there, a swing band was playing. The President and First Lady were dancing all by themselves, because everybody else was giving them a wide berth. So I took Terry by the hand and said, "Put your champagne glass down. We're going to go dance." We went up and started dancing right next to the President and First Lady. We were the only other couple out on the dance floor!

I thought, who cares? I may never get this chance again!

At one point I leaned toward Terry and said, "You dare me to cut in?" She gritted her teeth and gave me a look that said "Don't even think about it!" But in hindsight now, I bet she wishes I had. The Clintons are very gracious hosts; I think they would have gotten a charge out of it!

After the song was over, the Clintons immediately engaged us in conversation. They're great to talk to. I told them about my very first proclamation as governor, declaring February 15 Rolling Stones Day. They thought that was great. I had them both autograph my menu that night. Hillary Clinton signed it, "With deep admiration and respect." I believe she was sincere. That's coming a long way from the time she arrived in Minnesota during the gubernatorial campaign and told Minnesotans to put aside the "circus side show act," which was how she referred to my campaign, "and get down to the business of electing Skip Humphrey."

I don't hold that against her. She was brought in as a hired gun to stump for Humphrey, so of course she had to say something like that. There are all kinds of things that are said in the heat of battle, but when the election is over, you have to move on. That's the way it is in politics.

Hillary's got a phenomenal memory for personal details. This year, Terry wasn't able to go, but when Hillary Clinton greeted me, the first thing she asked was, "How are Terry and the horses?" Of all the people she has to remember, she held on to details like that about me and Terry. She had only met Terry once, a year earlier. I leaned in and asked her at one point, "Madam First Lady, are you sure you want to run for the Senate? Are you positive you wanna do this?" She just laughed and said, "Yeah!"

It's incredible to me that less than two years ago I was more or less a political nobody, and now I'm rubbing elbows with people in America's highest offices. In February of 2000, Vice-President Al Gore's people called to let me know that he was going to be visiting the state, and that he would be calling me at home to set up a meeting. The day he was supposed to call, Terry was just walking in the door with an armload of groceries when the phone rang. You know how sometimes when the phone rings, you get a premonition of who's on the other end of the line? I just had a feeling that it was Al Gore, so I sat tight and let it ring so that Terry would pick it up.

I heard her answer in the other room, then a pause. Then she said "Really?" in an incredulous voice. She thought it was just one of my friends pulling a prank.

But it was the Vice-President all right. He canceled his meeting with party caucuses that morning so that he could have a breakfast meeting with me. Our first meeting was just the two of us in a room together for fifty minutes. I talked to him about the fact that even though the federal government had mandated special ed programs for all the states, it had never delivered most of the money it promised to help fund those programs. Special ed kids are usually in competition with regular ed kids for funding, and they've traditionally been so dramatically underfunded that my daughter has actually had to go to classes in a broom closet. The Vice-President made me a promise that during his time as president he would get special ed kids the funding that they should have.

Vice-President Gore made it clear that he would love an endorsement from me, but he didn't ask for one. Of course, before I would even consider giving an endorsement, being the good politician that I'm learning to be, I'd feel it was only fair to give George Bush the same opportunity to be heard. And then I'd probably get away with not endorsing either of them! My excuse would be that I'm a third-party guy, and I don't endorse Democrats or Republicans.

This is amazing, when I think of where I came from, and that a little over a year ago I had virtually no political connections. Now the Vice-President is seeking me out! It boggles my mind that I'm now seen as some kind of political expert. Political science majors want to hear what I have to say. I was the keynote political speaker at Harvard last year. A year and a half ago I had hardly any political experience, and now I'm giving a talk in front of Harvard's political best and brightest. Me, with a high school education, talking to Ph.D. candidates. And these kids were hanging on every word I said. Alan Dershowitz, who was in the audience, told my literary manager that my "performance was most impressive."

It was great. First they introduced me and I gave a speech with the media present. Then they kicked the media out and I got to sit down and eat pizza with the students and just talk. Now I've got an invitation to go do the same thing at Yale, Harvard's natural rival. They told me in the invitation, "If you had fun at Harvard, come to Yale!"

I'm so flattered by the response I've gotten from the public. It's phenomenal. A few months ago Terry and I went out to a little bar and burger joint for a quick lunch. We could hear people whispering as we walked in, but they left us alone and waited until we were almost done eating before they started coming up with their kids and asking for autographs. And then as we were getting ready to leave, they all stood up and applauded. And all I did was eat a burger!

Once when the first lady and I drove from downtown to our house in Maple Grove, people kept driving by, smiling and waving and giving us the thumbs-up. We were laughing so hard in the car, it was getting borderline ridiculous! Then we started looking at who was doing it, and it was truly across the board: African Americans, elderly couples, young teenagers. It crossed all boundaries of ethnicity, age, and gender. It's stuff like that that makes me feel that I've gotta keep fighting the fight. They're the ones I'm doing it for.

To what can I attribute this phenomenal outpouring of public support? I have to think it's simply that the public sees my winning the election as a victory for them. They're not showering me with all this support because I'm special, but because I'm an ordinary guy. I'm one of them. And they know I represent them in everything I do.

My strength out there is in that silent majority. They don't necessarily speak out, but they're listening. The media, the legislature, and the behind-the-scenes power brokers give me a lot of grief. But I get exactly the opposite from the people of Minnesota. Their encouragement and support is what keeps me going.

Every month I do a bus tour to a different part of Minnesota, to see what's going on and to talk to the people. I get a lot of positive energy from those tours, becau