It was 10 am on March 31, 2010, the filing deadline in Missouri to run for Congress.\u00a0 My wife and I kept looking at the Secretary of State\u2019s website to see if someone would step forward to be the Democratic nominee in the 2^{nd<\/sup> District to run against Todd Akin.<\/p>\n}

At 10:30 am, no one had filed, we headed for Jefferson City to file, just in case no else would. No one filed as a Democrat, and when 5 pm arrived, I had immediately secured a win in the Democratic primary and the opportunity to run for Congress against Todd Akin.<\/p>\n

Akin had succeeded in winning virtually every election he had entered, and doing it all under the radar.\u00a0 He had a quiet but intensely committed core of supporters: the religious right, who believed that they were right about everything.\u00a0 After winning a close Republican primary for the seat in 2000, because his supporters were more willing than his competitors to brave the rain, he has had one landslide after another.\u00a0 When I ran in 2010, I became another in a long list of low-profile (or \u201cno-name\u201d) candidates to run against him.<\/p>\n

Obviously, I didn\u2019t agree with Akin about almost anything, whether political or in many cases ethical.\u00a0 Akin was part of the Republican firewall in the House of Representatives that joined with Democratic Blue Dogs to fight most of President Obama’s progressive proposals. But Akin was truly a backbencher.\u00a0 The legislation that he introduced, other than co-sponsoring anti-choice and other items in the Republican litany, were the renaming of post offices for Iraq veterans and trying to ensure that \u201cunder God\u201d would remain in the Pledge of Allegiance.<\/p>\n

But within his small circle of intense supporters, he said some true whoppers.\u00a0 This was all available on-line in 2010.\u00a0 Among them were:<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, however, America is waking up!\u00a0 Patriots across America are mobilizing, and Heaven is bombarded with the prayers of Saints who sense our national peril.\u00a0 Once again America calls for true sons and daughters.\u00a0\u00a0 May the Divine Author of our lives and liberties give us strength\u00a0 \u2014 He was always our great hope and He must be again.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

and<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, in short two years, our country is being destroyed by a one party rule of self-identified socialists, known communists, and other miscellaneous liberals.\u00a0 National security is compromised and the economy is plundered.\u00a0\u00a0 Private enterprise is managed by Czars.\u00a0 Job creation is almost at a standstill.\u00a0 Red tape and taxes are the solution to every problem.\u00a0 Socialized medicine has been approved and threatens to destroy our Healthcare as well as our Federal Budget.\u00a0\u00a0 The rate of federal spending will soon destroy our economy and Obama leadership’s incompetence is eclipsed only by its voracious appetite for centralized power.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[Both quotes are from Akin’s 2010 front page<\/a>]<\/a><\/p>\n

I was aware of these statements, but I chose not to attack him on his prior gaffes, or should I say, beliefs.\u00a0 His previous statements made his August 19, 2012 uninformed and indelicate comment about rape just a further example of how scary he could be.\u00a0 It was just another example of \u201cAkin-speak.\u201d\u00a0 But my campaign did not focus on him; rather it was an experiment in running a campaign that hopefully would set an example for how politics could be.<\/p>\n

I looked at my candidacy<\/a> as a unique opportunity.\u00a0 My goals were essentially two:<\/p>\n

– To diminish the role of money in politics by simply taking no contributions.\u00a0 No money; not even three dollars.\u00a0 I funded the campaign with my own money, using about the cost of sending one student to a top-level college for one year (about $50,000, or less than <\/a>1 percent of what some Congressional candidates spent).\u00a0 I did not fear that I could be bought by small contributions; I just opposed them, because I strongly believe in public funding of elections, which creates a level playing field for all candidates.\u00a0 In part, I communicated my wishes regarding contributions with a web-page button that said, “Don’t nate.”<\/p>\n

-To elevate the level of debate or dialogue.\u00a0 So much of political talk consists of nonsense ranging from platitudes, cliches and diatribes. Very little involves thought, self-questioning, logic, and seeing the other person\u2019s point of view.\u00a0 It was my goal to try to engage the voters, and perhaps Akin, in a dialogue characterized by give and take. I would learn from them, and hopefully, they would learn from me.\u00a0 To the extent that I was able to reach voters, I believe that happened.<\/p>\n

Like other Democratic candidates who had run against Akin since 2000 in the highly Republican district, I was soundly defeated.\u00a0 Akin won 71 percent to my 29 percent, which sounds terrible. When we examined the data following the election, my performance was not that bad in comparison to other first-time candidates running against incumbents, but it was not enough to give Akin the slightest of scares.\u00a0 In fact, he barely bothered to campaign.<\/p>\n

I never personally saw the ugly side of\u00a0 Akin.\u00a0 I met him three times.\u00a0 The first was at a community fair where I asked his staff if he would simply agree to meet me.\u00a0 He did, and we chatted for about ten minutes, mostly about people we knew in common.\u00a0 I asked him if he would be willing to participate in the forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters. He said that he would have to check with his scheduler, which meant no.\u00a0 We met two other times at meet-the-candidate gatherings sponsored by community organizations. We had small chats, and while I continued to ask him to participate in the League forum, he repeatedly declined. He admitted that he had a grudge against the League of Women Voters, which I saw as strange, since the League is generally about as non-partisan as a political group could be.<\/p>\n

As the 2012 election grows closer, it seems likely that Akin\u2019s faux pas<\/em> will bring an end to his political career and may make him a pariah to anyone who wants to advance in the world of politics. I hardly will shed any tears over this development.\u00a0 All the same, I will not regret taking a clean approach to Mr. Akin in 2010.\u00a0 For him to self-destruct as he has in 2012, he would have had to vigorously engage in the 2010 campaign. He punted on that opportunity.<\/p>\n

There was one other option in the 2010 campaign that might have brought his strange religious and ethical views to light.\u00a0 The on-line St. Louis newspaper, The Beacon<\/a>, graciously arranged for\u00a0 Akin and me to write<\/a> competing essays on several topics.\u00a0 They included \u201cHow government can help small business,\u201d \u201cAssessing the Obama record vis-\u00e0-vis the military,\u201d \u201cLessons from the Civil War & the Civil Rights movement\u201d (to which Akin\u00a0 did not submit an essay). With several weeks to go in the campaign, I asked the editors of the Beacon if we could do one more on religion and politics.\u00a0 I thought that even if\u00a0 Akin did not say anything strange, at least he would have had to clarify his positions.\u00a0 It would have been particularly interesting in light of my agnostic views.\u00a0 However, the Beacon said no.\u00a0 I think that a chance was lost; not necessarily one that would have changed the results of the election, but one that could have given the public two more years to contemplate Akin\u2019s unusual views.<\/p>\n

Perhaps I should have challenged Akin more on his non-mainstream beliefs. But then again, mine were out of the mainstream as well, only in a different direction.\u00a0 Missouri is an unusual state, and perhaps he has a chance of winning his current Senate race in spite of (or because of) his views on rape and other personal issues.\u00a0 If he does, as a society we may have to redefine what is normal. I hope that doesn\u2019t happen, and that he joins me in the 29 percent club.<\/p>\n

You can read more about Arthur Lieber’s race against Todd Akin in 2010 in his book An Unlikely Candidate<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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