That's Rob Sand, pictured. He is currently serving as Iowa's State Auditor, but he is running for Governor. According to The New York Times, Sand has Iowa's Republicans both "nervous" and "worried." The "worried" description comes from the hardcopy version of the headline to the article I've linked. The "nervous" description is what you'll find when you go online to read that article.
Personally, what caught my attention as I paged through The Times on Saturday, May 8th, was the T-Shirt that Sand is wearing, as he is depicted in the picture above. I especially liked the first part:
Bluer.
Redder.
I am REALLY tired of people thinking that "politics" is all about making a binary choice between "Red" and "Blue," and "Blue" and "Red." There are usually very real differences between those who run for office as "Republicans" and those who run as "Democrats," but when you want to "talk politics," and decide which candidate to vote for, talk about the differences, not about those party "colors," or those party titles. I was very fortunate that my personal involvement in politics, as an elected official in Santa Cruz County, California, for twenty years, was always as a "non-partisan" candidate and as a "non-partisan" local official. I was involved in LOTS of debates about "differences," but on the policy merits not on some "party" basis.
Real self-government, emphatically, is not about whether a candidate is "Redder," and more "Republican," or "Bluer," and more "Democratic," than the other choices that might be available. Partisan polarization, which has helped lead us into our current political situation, is absolutely the wrong way to go about the task of self-government.
I am not sure that trying to differentiate on the basis of "Truer" and "Better" is exactly the best way to do it, either, but as I think about that "Redder" / "Bluer" dichotomy, the warnings provided in that long-ago Bob Dylan song come to mind: "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)."
Click that link just provided to read the lyrics. Click this link to listen to Bob Dylan sing the song. There are lots of "warnings" provided in Dylan's lyrics, and here's one of them:
While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him
Is that clear? Maybe not, really! Dylan is nothing if not "poetic" in his way of making a point, but those who pursue the "Red" or the "Blue," as a way to achieve their political goals, are never going to get there. Like Dylan says, "God bless them!"
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