I was reminded yesterday that I have neglected the two most important functions of the candidate blog. Those are patting my own back and exhorting everyone to send me money. Please consider this entry a remedial one.

First of all, I should have mentioned that earlier this month, I continued to fulfill one of my campaign promises to the Delaware business community by dramatically cutting workers compensation insurance premiums. You can read about it here. These premium cuts are good news for both the business and labor communities, and are part of my overarching goal of controlling the cost of insurance in Delaware.

Second, you can send my campaign money through a credit card donation by going to our donation site here. Think of it as your way of protesting the commercialization of Christmas and Hanukah: instead of buying your kids gifts, just send me the money.

Or whatever the appropriate 2007 term is, if that one is now out.

As I have said before, I would not have been elected in 2004 without the help of an incredibly motivated, smart group of college and high school students. Well, I am glad to report that while most of the 2004 team has graduated, it has been replaced by new young people who are just as enthusiastic and capable. Yesterday, eleven members of the University of Delaware Young Democrats stuffed 3,000 mailings for me in just over an hour. While we were stuffing the envelopes, I got a chance to talk to some of them about what they are doing in school and planning to do with their lives. They are an impressive group, serious about what they believe in and about their futures. The quiet desperation that broke out when our Dunkin Donuts Box O’Joe malfunctioned leads me to believe that they are also, um, studying very late on Saturday nights. I am hoping that some of them will stick with me through the upcoming election year. To all the College Dems: thanks again for the help, and have a great Thanksgiving.

Over the weekend, I also stopped by Joe Biden’s picnic in Banning Park and and the Jewish Federation’s “Mitzvah Day” at the Jewish Community Center. Meanwhile, back at the Denn house, controversy continues to rage. Two Fridays ago, during a commercial break in one of our favorite tv shows (Friday Night Lights), I switched over to the Food Network and saw Paula Deen making Deep Fried Stuffing on a Stick as part of her deep-fried Thanksgiving. I said to Mrs. Denn, “that looks like the best thing I have ever seen, I am going to make it this year for Thanksgiving.” She said something to the effect of “I would prefer that you not do that,” except that her statement contained references to a table-side defibrillator and my needing psychiatric treatment, and ran about 400 words. I only heard part of it, because I was watching Paula’s studio guest William “The Refrigerator” Perry appear to have a religious experience as he bit into his Deep Fried Stuffing on a Stick. So I am not backing down. We are having fried stuffing, and Mrs. Denn can try her “looking gorgeous and batting her eyes” thing on me, but it is not going to work this time.

I am running late to get the boys to school this morning, so I don’t have time to print my usual self-conscious and defensive commentary on the latest video we are posting. If you are just starting your day, grab a cup of coffee and a George W. Bush voodoo doll, and enjoy Six Minutes of Matt from last month’s Jefferson Jackson dinner. (For my out of town friends, the presumptive Republican candidate for Governor used to run a chain of pharmacies–if you don’t know that, the Viagra joke doesn’t make much sense.)

A few weeks ago, I started knocking on doors in connection with my campaign for Lt. Governor. It was going very well. Lots of people recognized me and were very supportive of my campaign, others who didn’t were very receptive to what I had to say. Then came my arch-foe: daylight savings time. Since I don’t start knocking on doors until I am done with my work day, and since that now roughly coincides with the state being plunged into darkness, I can no longer knock on people’s doors without them thinking that it is either a SWAT team or wayward trick or treaters.

Possible solutions:

1. Have myself followed by adoring volunteers who bathe me in floodlights when I knock on doors. Pursuant to admonitions from candidates for Governor, floodlights should be lit with energy conserving bulbs.
2. Stand on well-lit street corners and proselytize.
3. Go home and make phone calls while boys scream like lunatics in the background.

So far I am going with #3.

First, let us cover the intentionally scary: the Denn boys finished their first official night of trick or treating last night. Grandma Denn kicked off the night by presenting the boys with, believe it or not, the first actual chocolate bars they had ever eaten. I followed up with bags of official Cookie Monster cookies that I had found at Wawa. After they had wolfed all of those down and were delirious from the sugar rush, we hit the streets. While Mrs. Denn handled the trick or treaters at our house, I pulled the boys from house to house in their wagon, and at the foot of each porch they would pile out and seek out their treats. We only went to about ten houses, the primary challenge was that the sugar had set off some sort of Wild Kingdom type feeding frenzy in Zach and I not only had to keep yelling at him to stop opening his candy in the wagon, he also started to try to steal his brother’s.

And yet Zach’s behavior was mature when compared to that of President Bush in dealing with children’s health insurance. Any limited credibility the President may have had when he listed his reasons for vetoing the last children’s health insurance bill was dashed when he said this week that he would also veto a new bill being negotiated by Republicans because it contained a tobacco tax increase. You can read about it here. So the President’s new position is that he will oppose any bill providing health insurance for children if it costs money. I am amazed that there has not been more public outrage at the President’s latest “Lucy and the Football” move.

On the same subject, don’t forget to sign our new petition to have the health insurance reform bills being held up in the Delaware House of Representatives released for a vote. You can read the petition by clicking here.

This weekend you will find the boys and me, as you have for two of the past three weekends, helping Bruce Ennis in his special election for the Delaware State Senate. I will also be stopping by the University of Delaware tailgate, attending the NAACP’s annual dinner, knocking on some voters’ doors, and watching an awful lot of football.