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Nice Guys Really Don't Finish Last
Date: Friday, January 30, 2004
Location: Columbia, South Carolina
If you think all politicians are self-serving phonies, you haven't met Bob Baines or Larry Jent.
Bob Baines is the mayor in Manchester, New Hampshire. He found my friend Stuart looking for a rest room in City Hall. The next thing we knew, the mayor had adopted us as his new best friends.
Baines skipped a budget meeting to show us City Hall and then invited us to meet John Kerry at the eighth ward's polling station on Election Day.
Kerry's aides worried we'd ruin the senator's photo-op, but the mayor told us, "Stick by me." We did.
When Kerry got off the bus, the mayor immediately introduced us. My heart was racing. Kerry and I walked down the street side by side, cracking jokes about Duke and Yale.
It was the most face time I've had with a major candidate, and it was thanks to the kindness of Mayor Bob Baines.
In South Carolina, I met another gregarious politician during breakfast at my Holiday Inn. Larry Jent is a state representative from Montana. He has crossed a continent to campaign for John Edwards.
A West Point graduate, Jent "got the spark" for politics in 1976 when he built a make-shift radio to hear election returns during a special operations exercise.
After leaving the Army and becoming a lawyer, Jent lost his first four elections. He finally won in 2000.
The Montanan is a citizen-politician, utterly devoid of pretension. Jent said of John Edwards, "I can really relate to … a boy working his way through college, becoming a lawyer." He added, "Guys who have famous daddies -- and I'm referring here to George Bush and Al Gore -- that's OK. But that's not necessarily American. You make it on your own."
Jent is also attracted to Edwards' positive message. In six elections, Jent never criticized another candidate. At least one former opponent now helps him campaign.
Larry Jent and Bob Baines prove that nice guys really don't finish last. At least, not after the first four tries.
Next stop: Seneca, S.C.
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