This blog is decidedly apolitical. If there is any political content, it is so subliminal that even I am not aware of it.

That aside, in the USA we just finished conducting our once-every-four-year presidential contest and the incumbent won. In South Dakota we conducted our state legislative races and Jeff, the subject of this post, was one of the candidates. In his race the incumbent won, too, which means that Jeff, the challenger, lost.

I have never known a candidate for office who believed that he or she wasn’t good and right for the office they were running for. And I imagine that when you lose, you wonder if what you believe about yourself is true. I also know that good candidates invest not only some of their money but a good part of their heart and soul. The money can be recovered, I suppose, but a loss must cause wounds that are otherwise slow to heal. All of that makes me grateful for people like Jeff who take the risk of being a candidate.

I gladly accepted Jeff’s request to capture a casual portrait to be used in a political mailing. My motive for saying “yes” wasn’t political. My reason was that I believe that Jeff is a good and genuine person whose cause is public service. It’s hard to go wrong taking portraits of people like that. . .