Thursday, June 12, 2008

Gary Trauner spreads the WyoDem message in San Francisco

You learn all kinds of things spending hours and hours each day skimming the blogs. A post today in Daily Kos held this announcement:


Bay Area Kossacks: WY-AL (and Orange to Blue) candidate Gary Trauner is going to be in town these weekend. Come meet him at the rooftop bar at Medjool Sunday evening. Date/time: Sunday, June 15th from 5-7 Location: Medjool, 2516 Mission Street (24th/Mission BART station. Medjool is located three blocks north on the left hand side of Mission Street between 22nd and 21st Street).


"Kossacks" are what Daily Kos correspondents call themselves. I never did, even when I was posting there regularly. But it's clear that any blog with a posse has got to be doing something right.

But just what is Gary doing in San Fran? He's either gathering funds or media coverage, or both. He may be hanging out in the Mission District for the same reason that politicians of all persuasions go to Jackson, Wyo. -- money! They carry it around in wheelbarrows up there. Well, not everybody. Some people have to make the wheelbarrows and fix the wheelbarrows and load the wheelbarrows and...well, you know what I'm saying.

Wheelbarrows may be a bit gauche for Medjool. But Gary takes checks, ya'll.

Just checking out the Medjool web site made me hungry. It has a restaurant, lounge and rooftop terrace with views of the Golden Gate Bridge. It serves tapas, small plates featuring interesting combinations. Here's one from the Southern European category: "Seared Sea Scallops with Preserved Lemon Gremolata and Sunchoke Puree ($14)." Here's a Middle Eastern offering: "Date Palm Sugar Crusted Quail, Cippolini Onions, Basmati Rice -- Golden Raisin Stuffing ($15)." They capitalize their menu items like book titles. But who can blame them? The place has been featured on local TV and was recently named the city's top gathering place. If you have to schedule a meeting in San Fran, you may as well hold it at a great place with good food and a view.

It occurs to me that this type of setting goes against the grain of modern American politics. Every time we saw a presidential candidate during primary season, he or she was either chomping on corn-on-the-cob at a county fair in Iowa, or swilling cheap whiskey with teamsters in downtown Cleveland. Not once did I see Hillary or Mike Huckabee or John Edwards sitting down to a petite plate of Date Palm Sugar Crusted Quail with all the trimmings, sipping a fine Napa Valley wine, and gazing off at a fog-encrusted bridge. It's elitist, don't you know, and would bruise the delicate sensibilities of Middle America.

I wish Gary a productive weekend in San Francisco. How about bringing home a quail-crusted doggie bag for the Wyomingites you left behind?

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