Whatever became of Hubert?

So wrote Tom Lehrer of Hubert Humphrey in 1965, shortly after Senator Humphrey started his term as Lyndon Johnson’s vice president. Professor Lehrer continued:
“Once a fiery liberal spirit / Ah, but now when he speaks he must clear it,
Second fiddle’s a hard part, I know / When they don’t even give you a bow.”

He was commenting on how Humphrey, who had been an outspoken and visible senator, fell silent upon becoming vice president. Humphrey comes to mind now not for the beginning of his term, but for the end of it three years later, when he was running against Richard Nixon to succeed Johnson as President. Humphrey spent the first part of the campaign defending the Johnson administration’s policies, and announced his independence from Johnson only in the last month or six weeks of the campaign. Coincidentally (?) that’s when his poll numbers started to rise, and the campaign ended with Humphrey and Nixon in a dead heat.

Council candidate Sam Adams has done the opposite. As the chief of staff for Mayor Katz, he was regularly seen in public promoting her programs. And as a candidate, he’s not been quiet about what he’s done for the last eight years — but he’s awfully quiet about whom he’s been doing it for. You might think that he was chief of staff for a mayoral vacancy.

A suggestion, Mr. Adams: don’t be afraid to tell Portlanders what you would do differently from Mayor Katz. A lot of people want to have a mayor and council who will do things differently, and your boss knows it. That’s one reason she isn’t running for a fourth term. Offending her will cost you one vote at most. Pretending the last two terms didn’t exist is a card game of Crazy Eights, and the voters would rather Go Fish.