Midge Miller, state legislator and political dynamo, dies at 86

[undeterred]

Midge Miller, state legislator and political dynamo, dies at 86

John Nichols — 4/17/2009 2:04 pm

Midge Miller changed America and the world.

She made presidents quake in their boots.

She made political parties reflect the will of their members rather than the bosses.

She made a place for women in the electoral process -- and in the governing of the land.

Then she got busy.

When Miller died Friday morning at age 86 after a long battle with cancer, she left a legacy of political activism, intellectual engagement and human connection unrivaled in the annals of the country this remarkable woman loved enough to repair, redeem and renew. She was, to the end, the woman whom former U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson so aptly hailed as the rare "person of energy and understanding who translates her concern into constructive action."

The late Sen. Eugene McCarthy credited Miller as the essential player in the anti-war presidential bid that forced President Lyndon Johnson to stand down. "When I think about who was the most effective person for me in that 1968 campaign in Wisconsin, I always come back to the name Midge Miller," McCarthy told me several years before his death. "She recognized the possibility."

Miller always recognized the possibility. As a missionary, a mother, a mentor and a mobilizer, she encountered challenges daunting enough to discourage even the boldest among us, and she embraced them.

When McCarthy did not make it to the White House, many of his backers became disenchanted. Not Miller. Disenchantment was understandable, she said, but not permissible.

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/447491

A very great lady. RIP, Midge. :patriot: