Elections were fun ...

One of the fun things about news work is planning for election campaigns. I don't think mainstream Canadians get caught up in politics as much as reporters do. We were just discussing this afternoon how NDP leader Tom Mulcair will be touring Ontario as a run up to the October 19th election. I mentioned to the news gang that I remember covering NDP leader David Lewis in the '74 campaign, with Trudeau and Stanfield. To this day I remember that I was more star struck by the veteran journalists on the campaign bus than with Mr. Lewis himself. I was a cub reporter on a hot summer morning who got on the bus north of Kirkland Lake and we were doing a quick tour of the riding. The first guy to say hello was a very tall, smiling and forceful fellow who handed me a beer (It was before noon)and asked me if I wanted a bologna sandwich with or without mustard. It was reporter Henry Champ of CTV news. He would become a superstar foreign correspondent with NBC News. Also on the bus was Mike Duffy, then with CBC Radio and Mark Phillips of CBC TV, who would become famous for his work with CBS News, all over the world. I don't know how these guys managed to get their work done with all the beer and joking around on the campaign bus. It sure was fun.