When running for Insurance Commissioner in 2004, I promised one night to visit every senior center in the state at least once a year, so I could stay in touch with the concerns of Delaware’s seniors and be available to help them deal with their insurance problems. The reaction of my campaign advisors was something along the lines of “Matt, you are aware that the healthy heart diet calls for one glass of red wine before bed, not seven?” And my snappy rejoinder was “relax, how many senior centers could there possibly be?”

Um, a lot. But I have kept my promise—at least, with respect to those senior centers that have allowed me to visit. (Some of them have had the usual, and often correct, instinct when a politician calls: feign inability to speak English and hang up.) Many of the centers have me stop in during lunch, others schedule me weeks in advance and advertise that I am coming. But almost every trip results in me learning something about what is going on with our seniors, or being able to help a senior with a problem that he or she brought to the center knowing I’d be there. So I am glad I did it. It is on my mind today as I gas up the car for a trip to the Long Neck Senior Center in Millsboro.

If I am elected Lieutenant Governor, I am going to keep visiting our senior centers. Our seniors deserve our respect and our attention, and hearing their concerns on a regular basis is an important part of that.