Paul Simon, the nerdy-looking, stait-laced, liberal former senator from Illinois has died at 75.
Simon ran for President in 1988, when I was living in St. Louis, and I got involved in his campaign. I went up to Iowa a few times in the dead of winter to knock on doors on his behalf. I supported Simon mostly because he advocated a national policy to provide a job for every American who wants to work. I thought it was a good idea, and I still do. Anyway Simon lost to Dick Gephardt in Iowa, and they both lost the nomination to Michael Dukakis, who in turn lost to George HW Bush in the race to succeed Ronald Reagan.
For years after the campaign, he sent me Christmas cards. They were mass-mailed, but it was still a nice gesture. In retrospect I don’t know how good a president he would have been. But he was a good man.
