My Congressman Is a Rocket Scientist

From l to r: Campaign Finance Director Annie O'Toole, Congressman Rush Holt, Campaign Chairman Matt Wall.

One of the best things about living in this area of New Jersey is that I have one of the coolest congressmen in the House of Representatives. He is Rush Holt, who has served the 12th District since 1998. Not only is he a straight-down-the-line liberal, getting a 100% rating from Americans for Democratic Action, but he is also a scientist (working for many years at the Princeton Plasma Lab) and a five-time Jeopardy! champion.

Since his first couple of elections, he hasn't been seriously challenged for re-election, and the recent redistricting has given him even more Democratic territory. However, due to some free time because of unemployment, I decided to do something useful and volunteer for the campaign. A few weeks ago I heard from the Campaign Finance Director, Annie O'Toole, and came in to stuff envelopes for a mailing.

I worked six or seven days on that, meeting many wonderful people. They mostly divided into two camps: college interns and retired folks. It was lovely sitting around a table with people of a similar political outlook; everybody there watched Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Rachel Maddow, and were sickened by the Tea Party and Fox News.

I was the most stalwart worker, and as a reward I was invited to one of the Congressman's fund raisers, at the Monmouth Race Track. I'd never been to a race track before, and drove out toward the coast to attend. About 20 people were there, including a few volunteers, and of course the Congressman himself and his wife. As one might imagine, he circulated through the room, giving everyone equal time, chatting about this and that (someone had a cleaning woman with an immigration problem). I asked him about whether he would appear on The Colbert Report. He said it would be fun, but he didn't see how it would help the people of the 12th District. He did say he would go on The Daily Show in a flash, and has been on Rachel Maddow's show.

Having never bet on a horse race before, I have little idea how to pick a winner. So I chose purely on the name. In the fifth race a horse called Bat Cave was running, and being a Batman fan, I put five dollars on him, and he went off at 9 to 1. Alas, he finished fourth, but I had a real nice time. It was an honor to meet the Congressman; long may he serve.