Former Sen. David Durenberger dead at 88

[RandySF]

Breaking news on my phone.

[MiniMe]

1. He represented Minnesota

Had to look it up because I had no idea who he was.

[keep_left]

2. He dates back to when there once was a moderate Republican party...

...more dominated by Northeastern politicians like George HW Bush. Of course, those days are gone. Most of the Republicans today make Reagan look downright liberal by comparison.

Unfortunately, Rudy Boschwitz also won in the 1978 election, and he and Durenberger often (but not always) cancelled out each others' vote. They both basically campaigned as moderate Republicans, but Boschwitz was much more of an ideologue once in office.

[Ocelot II]

3. I remember him well - one of the last halfway tolerable Republicans.

I never voted for him but he didn't make me want to throw things like GOPers do now. I wasn't a fan of Boschwitz, though, especially after he sent out a letter to Minnesota Jews suggesting that Paul Wellstone was not a good Jew. https://apnews.com/article/c5f1d0de1803f2a6ab85891ec3982f4b That was the sort of thing that GOPers would do these days - I guess Boschwitz was ahead of his time. Durenberger wasn't a bad guy, though.