Unless you are from Minneapolis, you are probably asking, "Who on earth is Peter McLaughlin?" If you are from Minneapolis, you may have seen his name all over the city. Let me explain...
In my life, I have not met very many famous people. I really have not even seen any in person. My friends in Green Bay met George Bush, and my dad saw (not met, though) Arnold Schwarzenegger (from a distance) when he (A.S., not my dad) was filming
Jingle All the Way in MN, but I have no such claim. The coolest famous person I have met is Van Cliburn. He even autographed a tape for me (that's how long ago it was). But most people reading this are probably asking, "Who is Van Cliburn?" and that just proves he is not all that famous unless you are into classical music. Oh, here's a good one: I talked to Michael Horton at a conference once, and he is pretty well-known in evangelical circles.
So, today I was priviledged to randomly meet a public figure. He's not known much outside of this area, but I did see him on TV recently. I have to give a little background so you can understand how I felt when I met him.
A couple weeks ago, I watched about 1/2 hour of the Minneapolis mayoral debate. I'm not even sure why I watched it, because I am not really into politics, but I do find debates very interesting. The two men debating were the incumbent mayor, R. T. Rybak, and his challenger, Peter McLaughlin. The funny thing about elections in both Minneapolis and St. Paul is that Republicans are not even in the running. Both candidates in both cities this year are democrats, and I think that's how it usually is.
Anyway, as I watched the debate, I was very unimpressed with how McLaughlin spoke or handled questions. His main tactic was to attack Rybak and point out all the things Rybak has done wrong in his term as mayor. When Rybak would give a reasonable defense for a problem that McLauglin pointed out, McLaughlin would just switch to a new one. They argued for awhile about things like property taxes and crime in Minneapolis--both issues that concern me slightly. I don't want my lanlord's taxes to go up 'cause that might raise the rent :) , and I'm all about being safe as I travel around this city. Anyway, McLauglin kept saying that Rybak was not doing a good enough job, and that he could do better, etc... I decided I really did not like the guy when he flat-out refused to answer a question twice. He had accused Rybak of not reducing spending so as to stay within the budget, so Rybak asked, "How would you have cut $(insert large amount of money here) from Minneapolis spending?" McLaughlin did not answer the question at all, and contined to complain about Rybak's job. For his rebuttal, Rybak said, "I would like to repeat the question which you did not answer. How would YOU..." Again, McLauglin did not answer, but manged to fill his allotted 30 seconds or whatever with more criticism. So, I determined that McLaughlin likes to complain and attack, but doesn't seem to have thought through any solutions for what he doesn't like. This seemed to be true on other issues too. I also determined that if I were to vote, I would vote for Rybak. Really, this was a very uninformed decision, and I barely have the right to have an opinion since watching half of one debate is all the research I've done. But, if I had to decide, I would vote for the incumbent. I actually don't think I can vote, because I am not an official resident of Minneapolis (my driver's license still says "Cannon Falls"). And the election is today so I don't have time to find out.
So, this morning (now you will see why all that history is important to this story), I got off the bus at the station where I always get on the train, and saw two policemen standing by the platform. That always makes me a little nervous (like did they get a bomb threat or something?). Then I saw this guy walking toward me. He had a big smile and was extending his hand to shake mine. All I could think was, "I recognize this guy, though I don't know why, and I know I don't like him, but I don't know why." It was such a weird feeling, kinda like de-ja-vu, but then he gave me his quick speech - "HiI'mPeterMcLaughlin-andI'mrunningfortheofficeofthemayorofMinneapolis-theelctionistoday-IhopeIcancountonyoursupport" and was on to the next guy after handing me a sticker. Ok, it wasn't quite that bad, but it was pretty quick - and rehearsed. I put the sticker in my pocket (I wouldn't have worn it even if it was someone I wanted to vote for) and said thanks. I didn't bother to tell him that I can't vote in Minneapolis or that I would support Rybak if I could. But I do admire the guy for spending the morning at lonely train stations talking to people. At first I wondered why he was at the more quiet station in South Minneapolis as opposed to the busy one downtown where I get off. But, then I realized (duh!) that most of the people boarding the train at my station actually live in Minneapolis, whereas the people getting off downtown live all over and have come from 3 park-and-rides, etc... Smart guy.
Anyway, I think he was the most well-known person I have met in quite awhile. I just don't meet famous people. I win contests and drawings, but I don't meet famous people.
