THE DAY I ELECTED RICHARD NIXON

     I didn't mean to do it. Voting for Richard Nixon, I mean. Three times. All in the same election. But I did.

     Similarly, I never expected to be living in Kentucky. Northern Kentucky, right across the Ohio River from Cincinnatti. But I was.

     All of this happened because I hated the Vietnam War.

     It was 1971 and times were exciting. The Mets, the Jets, the Knicks, my teams, were all recent champions. I was a new college graduate, just passed my 21 birthday. And I was having a fight with my draft board.

     They kept trying to draft me. And I kept telling them that I was a Consciencious Objector who refused to serve in the armed forces and would certainly never go to Vietnam. They didn't believe me and I demanded a hearing. There they asked me questions, laughed at my answers and probably concluded that it wasn't worth the effort. They granted me CO status and ordered me to do civilian work in the national interest.

     So I joined VISTA...Volunteers In Service To America, a federal program that was the domestic equivalent of the Peace Corps. And that's what brought me to my 2 room apartment on Boone Street, Newport, Kentucky. There I set up a (surprise!) basketball league and a recreation program for kids in public housing. And a program to help people train for their high school equivalency diploma.

     And in my spare time I joined the McGovern for President campaign. Shh, don't tell anybody. I wasn't supposed to.

     I loved Senator McGovern. Unlike his oppenents, the soft spoken Senator Muskie, the compromised former Vice President Humphry or the hawkish Senator Jackson, McGovern's opposition to the horrible Vietnam War was deep and passionate. Like mine. Much to my surprise he did well in the primaries and I joined his campaign.

     The first thing we did was voter registration. To my surprise we registered far more democrats than republicans. After he won the nomination we started to canvass and found a good bit of McGovern support. I was made leader in 5 districts which we thought would go our way. Things looked good!

     Then things turned bad. The Democratic convention was so crazy that McGovern didn't give his acceptance speech till 2 in the morning...long after even I had fallen asleep. His VP pick had to resign after word leaked that he'd received electrical shock therapy for depression. Neither Senator Kennedy or several other big name Democrats would accept McGovern's pleas for them to become his new running mate, leaving my guy hanging and looking silly. He also felt he had to withdraw his signature domestic proposal...a negative income tax...because almost no one could understand it. I recall a part of that speech: "A leader who won't change isn't a leader, he's a disaster."

     Sadly the campaign had become a disaster. No Democratic leader or candidate in Kentucky would say McGovern's name. At a fundraiser for our Senatorial candidate, the nominee ended his remarks by saying: "Let's support our ticket from the top to the bottom." "Top of the Ticket." That was as close as they'd come to naming the man at the top of our ticket.

     Still I worked with all my heart. And we did well. The only disaster WE had was when I called a potential voter named Alex Pigg. I couldn't help it. I asked to speak to Mr. Pigg and couldn't stop laughing! On the plus side I hadn't yet identified myself as a rep from the McGovern campaign.

     Talk at campaign headquarters focused on Harry Truman. He had completely fooled the polls so who's to say we couldn't too. If that was our best shot I was not encouraged.

     On Election Day I still held on to hope but knew it would take a near miracle. I walked out onto Boone Street very early that morning; I was the Democratic Challenger at one of the polling places as we were on guard against Republican shenanigans. I noticed a light rain fell. RAIN? I became excited. Maybe it was raining all over the country! Maybe the rain would get very hard! And maybe only the most commited of voters...McGovern supporters, of course...would come out! We could win a low turnout election! Oh my gosh!

     I got to the poll on, I think, Monmouth Street. The rain had stopped.

     There were no Republican shenanigans at the poll. Perhaps I'd scared them off. Still I had work to do. A person came in not knowing how to vote. The election officials there sent me into the booth to help him.

     Now I imagine you realize that they shouldn't have done that. You don't send a representative from 1 political party into a voting booth to help an uncertain voter. But that is what they did. So in I went. And asked who he wanted to vote for. To my horror he said: "Nixon." I moved my finger towards the clip next to Nixon's name. I paused. My finger began shaking. I lowered my hand and now my finger was next to the name McGovern. The shaking became a lot worse as I contemplated going against the voter's instructions. I couldn't get myself to do it. But how could I cast a vote for Nixon? I don't know. But I did. His vote (the idiot!) went the way he intended.

     It happened two more times that day. Two voters who needed help. Help to vote for Nixon. Each time it was easier to cast the asked for ballot.

     At the end of the day, the voting officials had me view the actual vote count. This was important because this was one of our Priority districts. We needed a big win here. And we did win...by 3 votes. My heart fell. A 3 vote win in our priority district where we had focused so much effort. I knew that we had lost.

     A while later, at campaign headquarters, I watched on TV as the news anchor announced the first state projected for Nixon...Kentucky, of course. And based in part on my 3 votes!

     I've just got to do better for Obama!