Former President Jimmy Carter and former Vice President Walter Mondale met briefly in Minneapolis on Friday night for a fundraiser that mixed a reunion with rebukes of President Bush. The two-hour event at the Mississippi riverfront home of Sam and Sylvia Kaplan served as a fundraiser -- with a suggested donation of at least $250 -- for the Nevada U.S. Senate campaign of Jack Carter, the former president's oldest son, who is favored to win his Democratic primary in two weeks and challenge Republican Sen. John Ensign. | “Eleanor Mondale, daughter of the former vice president, who spent the past year beating back brain cancer, took one look at 60-year-old Jack Carter, hugged him and said dramatically, 'Look how mature you are'...” |
The hundred or so guests included high-profile DFLers, from U.S. Senate candidate Amy Klobuchar to potential Senate candidate Al Franken, Mayor R.T. Rybak and congressional hopefuls Keith Ellison and Tim Walz. Many of them lined up with others to have their photos taken with the 81-year-old former president and his wife, Rosalynn, who spent an hour obliging their admirers. "I told him that I thought his work on human rights was groundbreaking. He said, 'Thank you.' And that was about all there was time for," Ellison said.
| Blew you right off, did he? |
Alan Sadowsky of Minnetonka brought five of Carter's books and asked the former president to sign them. Carter quickly obliged, but Kaplan razzed Sadowsky: "I can't believe it; the guy brought his whole library."
| “'We never dropped a bomb. We never dropped a missile. We never fired a bullet. We kept our nation at peace and secure,' Carter said...” |
Guests sipped wine and ate gumbo, endive appetizers and peanuts. Mondale said Jack Carter could help the Democrats regain control of the Senate and provide a check to the executive branch, because "nobody's pushing any Carter around anywhere."
Carter talked about his four-year presidency with Mondale in terms that many in the audience said gave them a chill. "We never dropped a bomb. We never dropped a missile. We never fired a bullet. We kept our nation at peace and secure," Carter said. "Now we come to a time that is incredibly different." He also said, "We have an ability proven through the ages to correct our mistakes."