How Jim Oberstar Became a Congressman

If ever the statute of limitations ran out on a story this is it. I moved to Duluth in 1974 as a newly minted Republican, although a dubious one (I'd voted for George McGovern two years before). 

My College Republican buddies had all joked about the "communist gun range in Cherry" when they found out I would be moving to Duluth in 1974.  They were teasing me about my political doom. Its just as well I was too much of an optimist to pay attention to them. 

Although 1974 was the only election since gaining the franchise that I did not a campaign I paid very close attention to the race for Congress that year. I had spent the summer of 1971 in Washington D.C. as a college intern and had made up my mind that I'd like to be a congressmen myself. 

The campaign for the 8th District would determine who would take over the seat in perpetuity (or at least retirement) and was thus a hotly contest race. Winning would require cheating and getting away with it.

When I ran for Congress myself as an Independent in 1992 I dug up some of this old history and tried to make an issue of it. The News Tribune wouldn't let me make some of my charges because, in the paper's mind, they bordered on libel. 

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