The next Republican debate is scheduled for Salt Lake City on Monday, March 21st, on the eve of primaries in Utah and Arizona. Trump will not appear, even if he’s still in the race, as he may well be.
What I’m saying is, you can take that to the bank.
David Cuddy was born in Valdez, the older brother of Dan, who was also born there in 1921. He was killed serving his country in the Second World War. His little brother Dan also served in the United States Army, reaching the rank of Captain. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and was with the troops who liberated the death camp at Buchenwald. He named his first born son for his brother.
Fritz Pettyjohn was born on the Frying Pan Ranch in South Dakota in a sod house, the second of nine children. When his mother died giving birth to her ninth child, he ran away from home. He was twelve years old. When the war broke out he was serving in the United States Army, stationed at a base near Cut and Shoot, Texas. When the 82nd Airborne Division was formed he volunteered for it, and was an original member. The casualty rate for these men was 90%. He fought from North Africa to Berlin. He was at the tip of the spear. His younger brother, Phillip, named his first born son for him. That’s me.
These two men had a relationship, and I intend to get to the bottom of it.
David’s nephew and namesake introduced himself to me in the summer of 1975. Sam Pestinger left his job as an Assistant U. S. Attorney for the District of Alaska to join me in the formation of our law firm, Pettyjohn and Pestinger. David was a loan officer at the First National Bank of Anchorage, and asked Sam and I to bank with him, and we did.
A little over a year later I needed money to take Babbie and our two little boys to Hawaii for a vacation. Sam and I were making fairly good money, but I had no cash. I figured I knew a banker, so I went to see David and explained the situation. He said he’d give me a business, not a personal, loan for the $3,000 I needed. I didn’t care what he called it, I just needed a loan. Over the course of the following year I gradually paid it off, and then I needed to take out another loan for a second Hawaii family vacation. So David gave me another business loan, and Babbie got the break in Hawaii she needed. I paid that off too, and may have even asked for a third, though I don’t think so. I was making pretty decent money by that time.
Those Hawaii vacations helped keep Babbie sane, and I’ve always appreciated what David and his bank did for us.
To this day, I don’t think David has known anything about the relationship between his father and my Uncle Fritz. It looks to me as though Dan Cuddy told people what he thought they needed to know, and not a lot more. It’s a smart way to do business.
Not everybody can do it.
The Trump riot in Chicago may have brought everyone to their senses. Rubio will try for as close a loss in Florida as he can manage. Kasich has to win Ohio. Missouri and North Carolina may or may not come around, but Cruz will try for as many delegates as he can, especially in Illinois. Even if Trump wins it, what really matters now are delegates, and if Trump only wins a few more than Cruz in Illinois, there’s not a problem.
A week from Tuesday is March 22nd. Arizona has 58 delegates, and Trump will be lucky if he gets one. The rest go to Cruz. Utah is up with 40 delegates. Cruz gets them all, and the party’s over.
The Davos Conspiracy against the Constitution, and the American people, will have been defeated. Everyone who is playing a role can be proud of themselves. This is what the Founders would have expected of us.
I’ve got a lot to write about.
Delegate John Overington has spent 30 years of his life in the Republican Minority of the West Virginia House of Delegates. Trust me, this is tough duty. He hung in there because he was bound and determined to make his state one of the 34 needed for a BBA Convention. Their state motto is “montani semper liberi” — A Mountaineer is Always Free. Today it all payed off, and the Task Force has 28. How sweet it is. David Guldenschuh must have helped a lot, I’ll wager. This feels really good. I have to mention Senate President Bill Cole, West Virginia’s next Governor. This man has the skills to turn that state around. God bless him.
And then there’s the results today from the Wyoming Republican County Conventions. Cruz 68%, Rubio 27%, Trump 5%. Cruz picks up all 29 delegates. Somebody might even pay attention. I bet Marco Rubio does.
Marco’s hanging in there until after Florida, and I can’t say I blame him. But win or lose he knows his race has run. His endorsement of Cruz will be heartfelt. I still haven’t figured out who would be a better VP pick for Cruz.
We finally got a computer guy to come out and make all this stuff work. That will be a relief. I’d like to take a stroll through the woods right now. The deer are really getting tame. The other night I must have come within ten yards of one, and she didn’t even flinch.
I like this part of the country.
The Hammond administration rewarded my service to the campaign by redrawing the Anchorage State Senate Districts in a very odd way. The decennial redistricting power given to the Governor is unlimited. He can do any damn thing he pleases. Normally, in Alaska, two House seats are combined to form one State senate seat. It’s the logical way to do it. But for some unexplained reason two senators shared the same four House member district. Since this was a reapportionment year, one senate seat would be for two years, the other for four. In this entire area of South Anchorage, there was one sitting state representative, disco Ray Metcalfe. Two senate seats, one House incumbent. And no other obvious Republican state senate candidate except me.
This was by far the most conservative part of Anchorage, a very conservative town. I ran unopposed in the Republican primary, and had a scab home builder as my Democratic opponent. But I was such a terrible politician I damn near lost it. I didn’t look like a politician, I looked like a bouncer.
I remember sweating out the results at a room Babbie rented at the Captain Cook. I really wasn’t that excited about winning. I wanted to win, but more than that I was afraid I’d lose. It was a feeling of dread, of failure. But I pulled it off, 52-48. The Anchorage Times ran a story the next day , with a picture of me, my mother and Babbie.
It’s on my wall today.
reaganproject.blog 