Anecdote Alert!

Peter wasn't home but his mother, Kitty, answered the door and let Phil in to write a note on the top of his last flyer, for Peter. Phil mentioned that Ken (John Kenneth Galbraith, Peter's dad and a Canadian native like Phil) had invited him to tea once or twice at Christmas or New Year's to hear Phil's ideas, but had always requested something written first -- which Phil never had at hand.

"Perhaps Ken could look at this flyer too," said Phil.

"Well, do you want to talk to him? - he's right here," says Kitty, and shows Phil into the dining room where the great man himself is seated at the far end of the table. "Pardon me for not standing up," says Ken, shaking Phil's hand, "I'm crippled."

"No problem," says Phil, "I just stopped by to welcome Peter to the race. I'm the guy that ran against Joe Kennedy last time and got 16% on $600."

"Well, try to be more efficient this time," says Ken, in top form. "If you meet any people who don't want to vote Republican, tell them to vote for Peter."

"OK," says Phil. They must have shaken hands three or four times during the course of this exchange. Phil bowed out, totally bemused at his success in finally getting to see his fellow Canuck-in-exile in his natural habitat on Francis St. and forgetting entirely that he had wanted feedback on his ideas from this storyteller of the "Famine in the Land of the Ants" and self-confessed "parish priest" of Pope Keynes.