What a Grand Day!
I’ve just had one of the best days of my life. This morning, with my day-old private pilot’s license, I flew 85 minutes to meet my long-time friend and partner, Peter B. Collins. Driving would have taken almost four hours. Peter met me at the airport in Marin, and I quickly changed from my travel casual into a suit. Right there on the tarmac, with no one around to offend. Then we drove into San Francisco.
The fog was cresting over the Marin Headlands above Sausalito , and pouring deliciously through the Golden Gate. Traffic this Columbus Day was a breeze, so we arrived fifteen minutes early at one of our favorite restaurants, the North Beach in, of all places, North Beach. The two people we were meeting arrived literally seconds behind us, which was fortuitous, because we used all of the time they had, and more.
Peter and I, in addition to being friends for almost twenty years, also share an interest in politics and a strong concern for the way our country has been waylaid by people more interested in guns, money, and power than in creating a healthy and productive future for our children and theirs. So in 1995, we formed Wins of Change -- that’s W-I-N-S of Change -- to provide our communications expertise to quality people so that they might win elections.
Peter has decades of radio and marketing experience, and I have decades of television news and marketing experience. We’ve also done advertising, public relations, corporate communications, and training. We know what communicating is about, and we work with political candidates to help them to explain themselves and their ideas to likely voters. We don’t tamper with the ideas, or try to insert our own agenda.
Today found us having a first meeting over a delicious lunch with two very bright, caring people who are exploring whether Peter and I might play a role — a significant role — in an important race next year. It was an extraordinary meeting. It was not about statistics and tactics, but about integrity and purpose. It was not about how to create an image, but rather how to let people know about the depth and decency of a qualified candidate seeking to serve.
Then after the lunch, Peter and I returned to Marin where we spent the next hour and a half walking the two miles down Tennessee Valley to the Pacific Ocean. It has been a favorite walk of mine for years, and Peter only seems to get to it when I come to town. So back in our casual clothes, we walked and talked our way under the high cool fog, down to the beach, and back.
Then Peter dropped me at the airport. And I caught an 18-knot tailwind, and cruised on home. What a grand day!
And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.
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