In Delaware campaign for Senate, civility rules

A lot of the mail I receive these days reads like this letter from a Milford, Utah, man, who says: "Truly, there is a lot of anger in the land, and one other thing that columnists like you appear to have missed or perhaps are ignoring. That thing is disgust with the obvious, deliberate refusal by elected officials to do their duty and actually represent the will of the people."

If that is your feeling, too, come with me to Delaware, where I spent the weekend with two Senate candidates who will restore your faith in representative government.

The seat that Joe Biden held for 36 years will be filled in November, and the early favorite is Mike Castle, the state's former governor and longtime congressman at-large, a throwback to the kind of progressive Republican the Northeast used to elect regularly.

Respected in both parties, especially for his work on education and job training, successful all 12 times he has been on the ballot here, Castle could easily have held the House seat as long as he wished. But at 70, he chose to seek to fill out the four years remaining in Biden's term, even though he thought he would face a difficult race against Biden's son, state Attorney General Beau Biden. His reason for running, Castle explained to voters at a house party here, is that "I'm in the minority in a [Republican] minority of 435 people, and the rules and procedures make it difficult to express my independence. In the Senate, I hope I will have more impact."

Later, Castle told me, "I don't go there with any notion of just building up seniority, but I think I can make a contribution there in the fields I've worked in. I don't plan to be part of the opposition. I think I can do more than oppose."

In his forthcoming book, "Joe Biden: A Life of Trial and Redemption," veteran Washington correspondent Jules Witcover quotes Biden's sister, Valerie, his frequent campaign manager, as observing, "There's a culture of civility" in Delaware politics. "And it's a small state where you can get around quickly."

I found Castle and his wife chatting with two dozen voters in a home here, laying out his differences with the Obama administration on health care and economic stimulus, just one day after he had joined Democratic Sen. Tom Carper, another former governor and fellow moderate, in a bipartisan welcome to Education Secretary Arne Duncan at the state fair. It obviously would not be easy to challenge Castle, and the Democrats were shocked when young Biden took himself out of the Senate race this year, explaining that he could not in good conscience absent himself from the challenge of prosecuting a man accused of the worst crime in recent state history...

I can think of many states, including my own native Illinois, that would kill to have two such Senate candidates this year. To cure your cynicism, just visit Delaware.

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