'Beto O'Rourke has now received the endorsement of every major newspaper in Texas!

[DFW]

30. He doesn't send me his work. He knows where I am and what I do.

I've known him for close to 20 years. We've been friends for maybe half of that. When I'm in Dallas and actually spend time in cars, I hear him all the time on shows on NPR on the car radio. But I don't see his articles here in Germany, and he never toots his own horn, and doesn't alert me to his writing. Ironically, my dad, a D.C. print journalist, used to call Norm up for quotes before I had even met him.

When we get together, it's still 40% personal stuff, only 60% politics. He DID promise me a fancy dinner for the picture I sent him, so maybe that will expand next time I'm in DC (and if he's there, too!).

One fun item you'll never have seen told elsewhere--in either late 2006 or early 2007 (I forget which), Norm, Howard Dean and I were discussing the upcoming 2008 race. The two of them were doing most of the talking, of course. Then Howard wondered why VA Senator Mark Warner wasn't getting into the primaries. Norm, who knows everything, said it wasn't widely known, but Warner was having issues with his (then-) teenage sons that would have been a major distraction to a presidential campaign. I then remarked that that was exactly my reason for not running as well. I cracked the both of them up with that line (they both know I have only daughters, both of whom were over 20 by then)--never mind that the idea of me as a presidential candidate would have been about as credible as running Donald Trump. Oops. Hold on, there. Wait, I may have to change that line...