The man on the other end of the telephone couldn't believe anyone in Ohio had to verify that Cleveland was in Cuyahoga County. "I would never hire you to work on my newspapers," Howard Metzenbaum bellowed."That's OK, I wouldn't want to work for a jerk like you," the very young reporter at the Wooster Daily Record responded. (I had just been checking my facts, after all, something careful journalists do.)
Despite this rocky introduction, I learned very quickly that this easily roused gentleman was just as easily set off by injustices and affronts to Ohio's working people as he was by rookie news reporters.
He visited the newspaper office while on the campaign trail later that year, as the photo of us to the right reveals. As the only admitted Democrat on the staff, I was always assured a warm greeting from "those" politicians.
Metzenbaum, who died yesterday at the age of 90, was a liberal giant from a conservative state. His ability to earn votes in Ohio and grudging respect in Washington bespoke a maverick who knew what was important to voters: lunch-bucket issues and a strong backbone.
Rest in peace, senator.
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