The television above the bar at Chris' Place was filled with the talking heads of various politicians who hope they will one day soon be anointed to carry their party's standard in November.
Phil the Teamster, who is scrupulous about having a cold one only after all his deliveries have been made and his rig safely back in the yard, held up some exotic brew to eye level and gazed at one of the heads though a reddish haze.
"I have never voted for a Republican in my life," said Phil. "But if Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination, I am voting for John McCain."
The bar, never a particularly noisy place, went as silent as death.
We knew Phil was a Hillary Clinton sort of fellow, but we never dreamed he would ever think of pulling the GOP lever under any circumstances. He is strictly an unreconstructed union man.
He's also no racist. He lives in an integrated neighborhood and judges each person on merit, not pigmentation. So The Senator, whose idea of exotic beer is Old Style in a Miller Lite glass, asked him why.
"He's a Crook County politician, that's why," Phil said. Stan the Bartender mouthed the word "Cook" from behind his unlit cigar.
"I said Crook, and I meant Crook," Phil said. "This guy is from Chicago. He sounds smooth, and he might have the rest of the country fooled, but he doesn't fool me. You don't come from Chicago and go that far that fast without owing somebody something."
Well, he has been seen palling around with indicted businessman and influence peddler Tony Rezko, who also is a buddy of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. But does that make Obama the third person of the Unholy Trinity?
"I'll tell you another thing," said Mark the Cop, who was on his usual seat by the door. "If Obama or Hillary get in, that's the end of any kind of federal investigation into corruption in Northwest Indiana."
It is local lore than Republican-named U.S. attorneys go after corruption in this county in which Democrats have held every countywide office since 1931 and Democrat-named U.S. attorneys have other priorities, let us say.
No one denies this. The Republicans say they come in to clean house. The Democrats say the Republicans come in to impose a political agenda.
Phil judges McCain the way he does other people, on merit. A Vietnam vet, Phil has a soft spot for a guy who spent years as a North Vietnamese POW, even if he is a Republican.
His heart says McCain. His loyalty says Clinton. But his gut says not Obama.
The opinions are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at markk@nwitimes.com or (219) 933-4170.
