There seemed to be the ingredients for some old-time demagoguery in this fall's election. The economic strain was palpable, from the Texas oil patch through the heartland cornfields to the Piedmont textile mills. Toss in the problems of Rocky Mountain mining, the timber woes of the Northwest, and despair in the Rust Belt and there was plenty of material for a latter-day rawboned, loudmouthed populist. Thus invited, none came to the party. There was a good deal of personal mudslinging, but of such limited imagination and low quality as to be totally forgettable.
We could have used a Kansan like Mary...