Timeless advice handed down from Sen. Metcalf

Guest Commentary:

The best political advice I ever received was from the late United States Sen. Lee Metcalf. It was during the Vietnam War, and I was in Washington, D.C., with my fellow Montana State University student leaders, Kelly Addy from Shelby and Bob Quinn from Big Sandy. 

I had just filed for the Montana legislature along with Dorothy Bradley of Bozeman, and Metcalf had seen the news reports in the Montana papers about the young college students, one a Democrat and the other a Republican, running to make change within the system. 

A combat veteran of World War II, Metcalf was becoming increasingly opposed to the Vietnam War, but he was also growing resentful of the thousands of student protesters who for many days had crowded the corridors of the Congressional office buildings making it nearly impossible for Congress to function. A tousled man of burly build with a reputation for cantankerousness, Metcalf appeared troubled and weary. He told me he had read about my legislative candidacy and invited me to visit with him about it. I vividly remember that behind his cluttered desk were towers of stacked newspapers. On top of one of them was a large sleeping cat.

He told me he had first run for the Montana House of Representatives when he was only a little older than me. He said he had done so because he was inspired by the New Deal, and was determined to be a part of implementing in our state, what he believed were its critically needed reforms. Because of the extreme importance of this to him, he campaigned intensively. On the evening before the election he joined his parents in their Stevensville home for dinner.

He said his mother commented to him that he hadn’t asked any of the Metcalf neighbors for their votes. They had known him nearly all his life. Did he need to? She replied that “people like to be asked.” Though tired, Metcalf sensed seriousness in his mother’s words. He quickly got up from the table and called on the dozen or so nearby families. Bone tired, he trekked back home that cold, pitch-black November night at nearly 10 p.m. “I won that election by 15 votes, and I think I got ‘em that night after dinner,” he told me. He said because of that victory he was able to go on to the Montana Supreme Court, then to Congress, and from there to the United States Senate.

“So, it was pretty important what I did after dinner that night, wasn’t it?” he said to me with force in his voice.  “And so my advice to you is that if you really believe there is a need for you to serve in public office, then you have an absolute duty to campaign as hard as you can.”

It was profound advice delivered powerfully, and it became fundamental to me. I never entered an election campaign unless I was firm in the belief that I was running for reasons that were right, relevant and achievable.  When I was certain of this, then I had a great internal motivation to win.

And so nearly half a century after I received it, I pass on Senator Metcalf’s timeless advice to any political candidates who may be reading this. If you really believe it is right and in the people’s interest that you should serve in public office, then get up from the table and knock on a few more doors. If you don’t know why you’re running, then have some dessert and settle back in your recliner.

Bob Brown is a former Montana Secretary of State and state senate president.