Walzing to Victory?

If you haven't heard of MN candidate for US congress Tim Walz - well, first of all, you should be reading minvolved.com, who're covering the hell out of his race - but second of all, you should read this, because damn, is it a great story:

In 2004, Bush visited Walz's hometown of Mankato, and Walz, a command sergeant and 24-year veteran of the Army National Guard, decided to take a couple of his high school students to see their president. They had tickets and valid identification, and went through the metal detectors like everyone else. Walz and his students, however, were ordered to leave — because one of the boys had a John Kerry sticker on his wallet.

After undergoing what Atlantic Monthly characterized as a "KGB-style" interrogation by some secret servicemen and apparently being threatened with arrest (!), Walz asked them if they really wanted to detain a command sergeant who'd just returned from fighting the war on terror. They didn't; Walz got to stay for the event (under heavy surveillance) but his students were ordered to leave.

This, of course, was pretty much SOP for many Bush campaign events, but in this particular case, it had an unusual effect: it made Walz decide to run for Congress - as a Democrat.

Love. It.