Charlie and Me

Celebrity sightings are rare in Grand Forks, ND, to say the least. Especially when it's -20 with an expected wind chill of -55. Yet this past Tuesday night Tabula coffee house at UND was full of students (and some of us who are a little older) waiting to catch a glimpse of a real, live TV star. Dule Hill (AKA Charlie on the West Wing or Gus on Psych) was in town stumping for the Barack Obama campaign.

North Dakota is part of Super (Duper) Tuesday next week, although you wouldn't know it from listening to the news or any of the other candidates' campaigns. We thought it was a good idea to be an early state; instead, we are just ignored. After all, what candidate would bother to brave sub-arctic temperatures to persuade an electorate of only 600,000, who will have only twenty one delegates at the convention and is a non-consideration when it come to electoral math in November? To be fair, John Edwards was scheduled to speak in Fargo this week (and I saw him speak in Fargo four years ago); but now he is out of the race. Not a word from my fellow Park Ridge gal. But Barack Obama has a strong campaign out on the tundra. I've received phone calls and countless mailings. Concerns about the environmental impact of junk mail aside, it's nice to have someone care what I, as a North Dakotan (for the time being, at least), think. It's nice to have someone cast a glance in the direction of the border with Canada, the place where sugar, potatoes, wheat, beans, sunflowers, cattle, and all those McDonald's french fries come from. It's nice to have someone view me not as an inconsequential piece of some electoral math, but as a citizen with a brain, an opinion, and a vote to cast.

I know how little political power I really have in the midst of a presidental election (which we North Dakotans more than make up for with our easy access to our high ranking senators, btw). But, my vote is still important to me. I've not yet decided who will receive my nod on February 5, but I will remember who it was that bothered to glance my way.

And, incidentally, someone did ask Dule the question on everyone's mind, "How does Barack Obama compare to Jed Bartlett?" As the proud owner of a "Bartlett for America" bumper sticker, I listened carefully to the response. In Dule's opinion, Obama and Bartlett are alike in that they both consider all sides of an argument, they both surround themselves with smart people, and they both, in the end, follow their heart. But, he said, Obama is a better choice because, in Dule's words, "You know, he's real." Happy voting, America.