The Single Greatest Moment in American Politics

Politico has brought us the 50 greatest moments in American politics. Only one problem, they missed the greatest moment of all. While they certainly compiled a decent list, the race between Jack McMullen and Fred Tuttle stands alone as an epic example of great political theater.

In 1996 A Man With a Plan was released, a film about a Vermont dairy farmer named Fred Tuttle who decided to run for congress. Fred ran saying “I spent my whole life in the barn, now I just want to spend a little time in the House.’ In the film he eventually won the election unseating the incumbent.

Two years later Jack McMullen came to Vermont with a large sack of money, hoping to win Pat Leahy’s US Senate’s seat as a Republican. Those of you who have spent any time in Vermont know it’s a proud state. Respect is built as much on the number of harsh winters you’ve spent in the north country as anything. Coming from out of state hoping to build a future in Vermont politics is a difficult proposition and Jack McMullen was met by a formidable opponent.

Fred Tuttle, fresh off the in state success of his movie, decided to challenge McMullen in the primary. Tuttle was the distillation of all that makes on a Vermonter, the heavy accent, the lifetime spent in dairy farming and an excess of charm.

Tuttle was just the sort of man we could use more of in the Senate in fact. He didn’t want to be elected, saying, “Washington itself, I wouldn’t care for it myself. We stayed in Washington. I don’t like it. We’d have to live there and I wouldn’t like that.”

When a child asks Tuttle if he would like to be a senator, Tuttle doesn’t quite hear the question so Leahy helps him out.”Would you like to be a senator?” Leahy repeats to Tuttle.

“Yeah, I would, but later on, later on, when I get older,” Tuttle tells the amused class.

In fact, Fred said the one thing he worried about was winning the election. McMullen, by contrast seemed more than confident that he would have no trouble defeating the farcical candidate.

With much of the state listening, McMullen and Tuttle faced off in the Republican primary debate. Each candidate was able to ask questions of the other. McMullen asked Tuttle serious policy questions which Tuttle deftly deflected by suggesting he wouldn’t do things too much differently than current Senator Leahy. Tuttle handed McMullen a list of Vermont towns and asked him to read through it. As McMullen stumbled or mispronounced a town name, Tuttle graciously corrected him, noting that a lot of people make similar mistakes. McMullen asked another round of policy questions and Tuttle again suggested that he had no problem with how Leahy was doing business. Tuttle’s second question was a knock out blow as McMullen incorrectly answered the question, “How many teets on a cow?”

As he left the studio that night, I’m sure McMullen thought he had won the debate. His answers on policy questions had been serious and to the point. Tuttle was a joke. How could the old dairy farmer with no money who didn’t even want the job win the Republican primary? The election results must have been humbling.

McMullen lost to Tuttle in the Republican Primary and Tuttle quickly endorsed Leahy, paving the way for his reelection. The single greatest moment in American Politics was born and McMullen learned there aren’t six “teets” on a cow. As Tuttle said, “All cows have four teets, except some have five.”