I have arrived in Washington D.C. a little early for today’s meeting of the 50 State Insurance Commissioners, where I will be trying to rally them behind support for the federal children’s health insurance program reauthorization and a federal bill creating universal health coverage. So I am going to use the time to seek out the New York Insurance Commissioner and tell him that today will be a day that will live in infamy in New York sports, as the Phillies close out the biggest September comeback in baseball history this afternoon (at the expense of the Mets) and the Eagles cause the NY Giants to engage in the first coach firing of the NFL season by crushing them tonight. I will let you know what his response is–he is a pretty reasonable guy, so my guess is that his response will be to tell me to leave him alone.

We have another video up on YouTube, this time an excerpt from my chat with the University of Delaware College Democrats. You can see it below. And once again, I feel the need to pre-emptively answer some questions about the video:

1. Why is the camera shaking like the videographer had hit the Deer Park for a few hours before the meeting?
We basically don’t know how to use the camera yet. The history of the camera is as follows. One day, someone mentioned to me that any self-respecting campaign in the 21st century has to have candid videos on the web, and by the way where was our YouTube page. I then told the campaign team that if we didn’t have a cheap digital video camera in the next 15 minutes the entire campaign might collapse. A SWAT team was dispatched to get the camera, in order to keep my blood pressure within medically acceptable limits. The camera arrived. We all stood around looking at it like the cavemen in Quest for Fire looking at, well, fire. It didn’t do anything. Then we realized that we must use the camera. We are now in the process of learning how to do so. Finally, it is possible that the videographer (who will remain anonymous) was at the Deer Park before the meeting.

2. Why do you keep talking during the video about how old you feel?
Well first of all, our sadistic video editor has managed to capture the five minutes of video that contain almost all of the “I am so old” references contained in my 15 minutes of remarks. But beyond that, one of the things that had happened before I spoke was that the College Dems were supposed to name their favorite bands. Now, I try to stay somewhat hip. I watched the MTV video music awards (yes, my retinas are still burning). I listen to popular music stations in the car, if only as an alternative to making fund-raising calls. But I had never heard of one band that these college students were talking about. They were names like “Screams from the Deep Buried Grave” and “Belligerent Popeye Head.” (I am making up these names, but I think they have some potential.) Hence, I felt old.

3. Did you ever get to meet Mario Cuomo or John Lewis, the people you talk about on the video?
Yes. I saw Mario Cuomo when he came to Delaware in the early 1990s to speak at an event. When the event was over I walked up to him and began prattling about how he had influenced my life. He was hustled away by security (this was back when he was presumed to be a presidential candidate). I got a chance to meet John Lewis at a conference, also I think in the early 1990s. He was exactly the way you would expect him to be: extraordinarily statesmanlike, very gracious with his time, and with a stunning historical perspective on the last 40 years that you could only gain from having personally created much of the history.

It has been quite a week, both in the office and on the campaign trail.

On Tuesday, I went to visit the Committee of 100 in Wilmington as its monthly speaker. The Committee of 100 is a group made up primarily of Delaware businesspeople with an interest in economic development and land use. (My friend Leo Strine Sr. has jokingly suggested that the group’s motto should be “For One To Join, One Must Die”—I think they have substantially more than 100 people at this point). I had last been before them in May, 2005, when the boys were only five months old and not sleeping much. As I explained to them on Tuesday, I had planned to follow up on my remarks from May, 2005, but realized that thanks to my insomniac children, I don’t remember anything from May, 2005. So I talked about my office’s active involvement in the state’s economic development efforts, from our work on controlling workers compensation insurance rates to our efforts to make Delaware a national home for captive insurance companies. Not only did I get a great reception, but the group’s leader Beverly Baxter sent me home with two pieces of key lime pie for Michele. (Michele was at home putting the boys to sleep, and then resuming her Gray’s Anatomy Third Season DVD Marathon, during which she is doggedly plowing through episode after episode from last season so that she can be fully briefed before the new season premiere next week. Personally, I could do without McBeefy or whatever his name is and his whining colleagues, but she thinks it is a great show.)

On Wednesday night, I was the guest speaker at the first 2007 meeting of the University of Delaware College Democrats. The College Dems at Delaware are a fantastic group—they, probably more than any other group, were responsible for my getting elected in 2004, and I went on Wednesday night to audition for them in the hope that some of them would bring that same energy and enthusiasm to my 2008 campaign. They started off the meeting with an icebreaker exercise where they introduced themselves to each other by answering some political questions and some less serious questions about their favorite bands and who they thought was the sexiest politician in America. (I did not receive any votes—my theory is that they did not want to embarrass me by announcing their votes for me publicly, but that on a secret ballot I would have edged out Obama and Edwards.) Then I got to talk about why I was in politics and why I was running for Lt. Governor. Julie Blevins actually taped my remarks on our digital camera, but aside from the issue of whether the video is worth posting on its merits, I am also informed that I was standing in front of the words “Sexiest Politician” left over on the classroom blackboard from the icebreaker session while speaking, and that it creates a sense of cognitive dissonance on the video. The good news is that almost every single student there signed up as a campaign volunteer, and we are going to put them to work.

Finally on Thursday, I traveled down to the Bethany Beach Fire Hall to speak to a group of Sussex County Democrats at a candidate’s forum put on by the Southeastern Sussex Democratic Club. It was a great chance to talk before a friendly group about some of the issues such as education and health care that are going to be the focus of my campaign.

Oh, and in case you were wondering what I was doing at my actual day job, one of the things we were up to was taking action against CIGNA for overcharging its policyholders for prescription drug copayments. You can read about it at http://www.delawareinsurance.gov/departments/news/092007-Press-CIGNAfined.shtml.

First, let’s cover Labor Day. The Labor Day Parade in downtown Wilmington on Monday was a lot of fun. Adam, Zach and I marched with our friends from the Delaware State Education Association (well, technically I marched and dragged them along in their official red parade wagon), and before the parade had even started they had loaded up the wagon with apples from DSEA, balloons from the electrical workers, and frisbees from the sheet metal workers.

After the parade was over, things got dicey. I wanted to stop by the picnic that AFSCME puts on for its public sector union members every year in Banning Park. The boys had visited with me in 2005 and 2006, everyone loved seeing them, and I wanted to bring them back this year. But we had 45 minutes to kill, and they both looked like they were getting sleepy. I had a plan: I would get them to the Dunkin Donuts near Banning Park, let them each have a donut and a glass of milk, and that would sustain them for at least half an hour at the park until they were ready for their naps. My plan may not have been endorsed by the American Pediatric Association, but I was a desperate man. As we closed in on Dunkin Donuts, though, I could see Adam starting to nod off in the back seat. I tried everything. I turned up the Wiggles. I tried to start sing-alongs. I stooped so low as to actually tell him that if he stayed awake for another five minutes, he would get a chocolate donut. Nothing worked. He nodded off, muttering “chocolate donut” to himself. Zach was five minutes behind him, and I took them home to Mrs. Denn and attended the AFSCME picnic sans Denn boys. And yes, everyone wanted to know where they were.

Today, I am off to New York for most of the day along with some of the top members of the Delaware bar and the Delaware financial services community, to talk to New York businesspeople about Delaware’s efforts to become the nation’s home to captive insurance companies. Captive insurance companies are, generally speaking, insurance companies that are set up and owned by private companies as an alternative to buying their insurance from traditional insurance companies. They are a very good idea for lots of businesses for lots of different reasons, and when I took office in 2005 I worked with our business community and legislators to transform Delaware into the most attractive state in America for captive insurance companies to locate. We succeeded, and now we are trying to spread the word—you can read about our trip in today’s News Journal here.

Down the road, this captive insurance effort could be a real economic boost for our state, and I am very proud to have worked closely with the private sector in Delaware to make it happen. It is a good example of how I intend to work with our business sector as Lieutenant Governor to encourage business growth across the board.