Oregon governor, a St. Louis guy, defies convention
Though Barack Obama is banking on Oregon voters today to help him cinch his party’s nomination for president, not every Democract in the state supports the junior Senator from Illinois.
One of rival Hillary Clinton’s biggest supporters in the state is Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a Show-Me native and University of Missouri grad.
According to his official biography, Kulongoski was born in “rural Missouri” and grew up in a Catholic boys’ home in St. Louis. After serving with the Marines in Southeast Asia, he worked as a truck driver and bricklayer in Alton, and later enrolled at Mizzou.
Last year around this time, Kulongoski made national headlines by taking on a “food stamp” diet, seeing if he could survive on $21 worth of groceries a week.
In December, Kulongoski endorsed Clinton’s bid for the White House, saying “no one is better equipped to repair the damage of the last seven years and repair our standing in the world.”
But last week, Kulongoski drew some criticism from fellow Democrats for appearing along side Republican nominee John McCain at a campaign stop in Portland.
According to the Oregonian newspaper, a spokeswoman for the governor responded by saying that the governor “is a good Democrat” but that “his first job is governor and sometimes that means putting partisan politics aside.”
Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski (left), a Democrat and Missouri native, raised eyebrows by appearing with Republican presidential nominee John McCain
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I’ve never heard of Gov. Kulongoski but you can bet that aside from the spokesperson’s excuse of “his first job is governor and sometimes that means putting partisan politics aside,” Gov. Kulongoski and Sen. McCain have a higher bond that transcends politics. They both served in Southeast Asia, one as a Marine, the other as a Naval Aviator; enough said about that. I’m willing to bet that the nay-sayers have never, and will never, know of such a bond between two people. Bottom line: If you don’t get it, you don’t get it, and the only way to “get it” is to walk in their shoes and live the same experiences. These are two honorable men. And that’s all I have to say about that.