Sometime around an election year, Representative Jim Clyburn holds a Fish Fry to introduce the Democratic candidates running for office. In 2019, it was for the candidates running for President of the United States. The free get together is for candidates to mingle with the voters in an informal setting. Of course, I went that year. After all, I am a political junkie. I needed my fix. I should also point out that I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I vote for the person, not the party.
It was a hot and humid day, which is very typical for South Carolina. It was being held at the EdVenture Children's Museum in Columbia. A lot of people turned out for the event, and there was a long line to get into the venue. I had brought my water, but I started to feel a little sick to my stomach. I recognized the symptoms of heat sickness. I saw an ambulance nearby and walked over to it. I asked for help. They took me inside to their truck, where it was cool. They gave me some Gatorade, and it helped a lot. They wanted to transport me to the hospital, but I said no. I take some depression medication that causes me to become overheated. I got stabilized and headed on back to the venue.
I got back in line, and they were passing out water for the people. I took a couple of bottles and drank them. I felt so much better. The lines split off in different directions for the fish. By the time I got inside a building, they ran out of fish. I wasn't pleased. They said that more would be coming, but they had not anticipated this large of a crowd. I didn't want to wait, so I walked outside and ran into some national media people. Joy Reid from MSNBC smiled at me. I smiled back. I saw Major Garrett from CBS interviewing Clyburn. That was cool.
While I was walking around, I came upon some booths for the candidates. I saw Elizabeth Warren with some of her volunteers. She looked shorter in person. She liked to hug a lot. I saw one volunteer for Jaime Harrison, who was running for the Senate race against Lindsey Graham. One volunteer? Jaime didn't have a chance. I then had an epiphany. As a political strategist for a lot of years, I knew a lot about campaigns and how to win. It was pretty obvious that Joe Biden was the frontrunner for the nomination. I walked over to the Biden booth and started talking to his campaign staff. I floated my idea. What if Joe picked Kamala Harris for his running mate? It seemed like a crazy idea, but I was thinking that she was from California, so she could help in the West geographically. She was a fighter, so she could be strong in a debate. She was a woman, so she could help with the Hillary voters. And, she was multi-racial, so she could be good to appeal to many segments of our country. The Biden staffers told me that they liked my idea, and that they would approach Biden with my idea. I had met Biden some 10 years earlier, and I felt he would consider my idea. I then walked over to the Harris booth and approached my idea with her staffers. They weren't too keen on it. They told me that they were in the campaign to win. I told them that she could win with being on the ticket. They yelled at me to go away. I asked them for a Kamala t-shirt, and they said no.
I left the Fish Fry without eating any fish. I left before the candidates spoke to the crowd, as many were running very late. I did see Bill de Blasio's car roll into the parking lot. I waved at him, and he waved back. As for the Biden/Harris ticket, I seemed to have planted a seed that night. A year later, they were on the ballot together. Success or blame depends on your political persuasion. By the way, Trump should have dropped Pence for VP in 2020. I would have gone with Nikki Haley, but that's another strategy for another day.
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