Politics

Delaware, best known for the "I'm in Delaware" joke in the first Wayne's World movie, is apparently having its primary as well on Tuesday. Though Hawaii is the 50th state, it might as well be Delaware because whenever you have to name all the states, you remember 49 of them and name Delaware last. Likewise, I'm sure that in a year when asked to name the starting Democratic field, everyone will remember Delaware senator Joe Biden last, despite having been in the Senate since he was a toddler. He is to the Democratic field what Delaware is to the other states, and we all loved his unforgettable remarks about how amazing it is that Barack Obama can put together a sentence and that Indians can work at 7-11. Some people are writers, not talkers.

I live in Arkansas though my political interests extend well beyond my state.  My husband Max and I have entertained politicians and their faithful followers on many occasions. In the South we open our homes for such events with no thought of using restaurants, hotels or any other such impersonal locations.  It was Bill Clinton this morning for breakfast with an enthusiastic group of Hillary’s supporters.  The southern spin on the menu included sausages in puff pastry and creamy cheese grits.  We boxed food for the road as President Clinton moved on to south Arkansas rallies.

One of the prostitutes who lived across the hall from my wife and me was the person who introduced us to the Honey Lounge, a working class bar across the street from the Prudential Center in Boston.  She and her pimp had apparently had a small disagreement about money and she hid out in our apartment while he pounded on her door and threatened to kill her.  The following night, their dispute resolved, they brought us a pizza as compensation for our kindness.  The pimp said it was from the Honey Lounge, the best pizza in the city.

The revolutionary notion first took shape at – and as a result of – the Wild Hog Supper, an annual tradition held each January at the cavernous Georgia Freight Depot, virtually in the shadow of the Gold Dome of the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta, to celebrate the onset of the first session of the Georgia General Assembly, otherwise jokingly referred to as our Legislature.

The solons who convened here in this lively atmosphere – immediately prior to Super Tuesday – were uniformly filled with the full flush of convivial spirits: feed-and-seed dealers, clientless rural lawyers, insurance salesmen, chiropractors, "consultants," auto mechanics and lay preachers. And then, of course, there is the governor, Sonny Perdue, a veterinarian.