The Big Bully Turns 90

I first met The Big Bully over twenty years ago, when he was thinking about running for governor a second time. It was a cold, gray St. Patrick's Day. TBB's first campaign had been crushed at the polls by a mediocre (and, it turned out, corrupt) incumbent who cultivated an Everyman image. The Big Bully was a high powered, wealthy businessman who was many things, but he was not Everyman. He wasn't mediocre or corrupt for that matter. What he was: hard driving and exceedingly unpleasant.

The Big Bully needed a campaign manager. He wanted me, and he conducted a whirlwind courtship that lasted all of two and a half hours. I was in The Kid's employ, and I had spent a year searching for a way out. I had vowed, like every kid trying to flee a stifling small town, to grab the first ticket out. There was no way I was going to refuse to take that trip. Ironically, it was The Kid who made the introduction.

I enjoyed the courtship. I was easy. He had me after five minutes, but how often do you get a big shot like TBB laying the flattery on? So I enjoyed it. When he decided to run I quit The Kid, vowing (to myself, mostly) never to return. I kept that vow.

Did I mention that TBB ended up giving me $2.5 million of his money to spend? Did I mention that we started the campaign about half a light year behind the governor? Did I mention that the governor was exposed as corrupt about two months into the campaign, and that we soon had a horse race on our hands?

Well all that happened. We lost in a photo finish. I'll be describing that campaign, and the next one, the one we took in a landslide, in future posts. My main interest at this point is not nostalgia (although that first campaign with TBB was my last pay phone campaign--the next one we had these large, brick like objects called "cell phones".)

The Big Bully turns 90 on Tuesday. I have very complicated feelings about that guy, but I have to take my hat off to a survivor who put his money where his mouth was. The Big Bully didn't let little things like the impossibility of the job stop him. Because of my two campaigns with him, long odds do not daunt me either.

Which is why I won't give up on this country.