10/15 Two familiar names are on the road again, as the song goes.
Tipper Gore was in Virginia back in September to make an appearance as a drummer behind Willie Nelson at the 15th anniversary Farm Aid concert at the Nissan Pavilion in Price William County.
Tipper, described as “a lifelong music fan,” got her start on the drums in high school as a member of a band known as the Wildcats.
Willie hailed Tipper's “commitment to save America's family farms.” Maybe, when she got home, Tipper found a moment to talk to her husband about that commitment. We sincerely doubt that he shares it.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail is non-candidate Dean Kleckner. You remember him, immediate past and long-time president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. Kleckner is now chairman of Truth about Trade, described as a national grassroots organization of farmers and community and business leaders dedicated to promoting freed trade and biotechnology advancement.
Kleckner is hitting the trail across the midsection of the nation to counter “the small but very loud and sometimes violent crowd of anti-trade radicals and environmental extremists (who are) drowning out the voices of the farmers and families of rural America who will decide campaign 2000.”
To voters, for example, in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois, Kleckner will pass out the Farm Vote 2000 voter guide which highlights six key issues to the future of rural America, including trade with China, opposing the Kyoto Accords, ending unilateral trade sanctions and supporting biotechnology.
There is no question that if rural America, by some miracle, voted as a bloc, it would be a major factor in determining the outcome of the November elections. Dean’s doing his part, but Willie seems to be marching to a different drummer.