Lights, Camera...Fred!

An upset win upsets Vermont as a farmer steps out of retirement (and a movie) to run for the Senate

It took a while for Fred Tuttle's life to become art. But once that happened, politics followed. For 50 years, Tuttle, 79, was a dairy farmer until bad health--three heart attacks, cataracts, arthritis, diabetes, prostate cancer--forced him to retire in 1989. Then John O'Brien, a neighbor and local filmmaker, cast Tuttle as the lead in his 1996 film, Man with a Plan. In the movie a retired dairy farmer, also named Fred Tuttle, runs for Congress because, well, he needs the money. "I spent all my time in the barn," the fictional Fred tells voters. "I'd just like to spend a...

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