Many people have their equivalent of Paris in the '20s. I actually have two: New York in the '80s and Durango in the '90s.
Durango was my first real journalism job. The pay was rotten, but I made a bunch of great, lifelong friends and did some outstanding journalism for a paper with a circulation under 10,000.
I was there during the '92 campaign, Clinton-Gore vs. Bush-Quayle. Dan Quayle himself made an appearance in Durango at the airport, and then got in a motorcade and drove down to Farmington, N.M. Both states were in play, much like this year.
Through a combination of dogged pursuit and dumb luck, I was able to get an exclusive interview with the sitting vice-president of the United States while he drove from Durango to Farmington. It was a lot of fun, and he was a gracious host in the back of his limo for more than half an hour.
But it was clear in his eyes and in his tone that he knew that if he was spending time in towns like Durango and Farmington, the effort to stay in office must be in trouble. It was.
So here we are in 2008 and McCain himself made a campaign stop in Durango before heading to New Mexico.
Uh-oh.
Well, I hope the people in Durango enjoyed it. People in Durango seem to enjoy just about everything, so I bet they did.
