News Highlights

Former congressman, student-son back different candidates

While Barack Obama and John McCain are done debating, Tim and Marcus Penny are not.

2008-10-20
By Mark Fischenich, Free Press Staff Writer [published in The Free Press, Mankato, MN, 10/18/2008]

WASECA — Barack Obama and John McCain are done debating. Tim and Marcus Penny are not.

The Penny debates are expected to continue daily through Nov. 4, possibly beyond. They started sooner, too, with the precursor coming in winter 2006, just weeks after the mid-term election had ended.

"I remember over the Christmas holiday, my brother got mad at me because I was already trying to spark the presidential debate between myself and my dad," said Marcus Penny, a 23-year-old Minnesota State University student.

Tim Penny is a 56-year-old former Democratic congressman and Independence Party candidate for governor who is supporting a Republican for president in 2008.

"Both of us can get a little intense when we're talking politics," he said.

While he is proud of his son's serious interest in the election, Penny thinks his son has erred in choosing Obama — just as he thinks his other two sons, his daughter and his elderly mother are wrongly backing the Democrat.

Outnumbered five-to-one among immediate family members, Tim Penny hasn't suffered any doubts.

"No, not about McCain," Tim Penny said. "I've known him for 25 years. We went to Congress together. I admire him. I trust him. I think he has the capacity to be the kind of president we need in today's world."

All of Penny's children have their political opinions, but Marcus Penny is the only one who's developed their father's deep interest in government. It hasn't always been that way. He originally planned to major in music only to find himself increasingly intrigued by politics, particularly following the 2004 presidential election.

After virtually no direct involvement in campaigns most of his life, he's now a political science major. He was freshman Congressman Tim Walz's first intern in 2007. Despite his better judgment, he couldn't help but share with MSU Republicans an idea that struck him: that they should call themselves "Mavericks for McCain" to play off of the school's mascot.

And he's taken full advantage of having an experienced and opinionated consultant — his father — who is more than willing to encourage and nurture his interest.

The Pennys aren't a typical family, considering Tim Penny's 12 years in Congress, his books on American government and his popularity in southern Minnesota. But the generational quarrel about this presidential race is far from unusual.

Polling shows young voters overwhelmingly prefer Obama; McCain has substantially better luck with their parents' generation.

The Pennys' disagreement, however, is a bit more public than most.

When Tim Penny went to Denver during the Democratic National Convention to tell the media why he supported the Republican, Marcus Penny fired off an e-mail to The Free Press: "Read your story about Tim Penny's endorsement of John McCain. Too bad the DFL didn't send you my way when they declined to comment. I would have had a thing or two to say. — Tim's son, Marcus."

Outside their Main Street Waseca home are a pair of Obama signs along with the single McCain placard.

And there are the phone calls — it's averaging about three a day — when they, mostly good-naturedly, discuss the latest turns in the campaign. Take the night of the debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin.

When it was over, Tim Penny had no doubt he'd be receiving a call from his son.

"It was like a half-hour after the vice presidential debate when I called him," Marcus Penny said. "He was like, ‘What took you so long?'"

Neither Penny is impressed with McCain's choice of a running mate. Marcus Penny believes McCain made a purely political choice, hoping to shore up his Republican base by picking the socially conservative Alaska governor, disregarding whether she was ready to replace him if needed. The younger Penny thinks Palin is completely unprepared to be president.

"She has this anti-elitist approach," Marcus Penny said. "But it's more than that. It's almost anti-smarts. ... When you have someone who rejects ideas just because it's too ‘hoighty-toighty,' it reminds me of Bush in a lot of ways."

Tim Penny doesn't like the Palin choice for the same reason he argued against Gov. Tim Pawlenty as McCain's running mate — not enough experience.

"I think she has the capacity to learn quickly and to rise to the occasion, but she's certainly not ready to be president," he said. "Now, on the other hand, the inexperience on the McCain ticket is in the second slot. The inexperience on the Obama ticket is in the top slot."

Marcus Penny suggests voters have looked at Obama and decided his lack of executive experience is outweighed by his strengths. That still leaves the question of which presidential candidate showed the best judgment in deciding whom he wanted to lead the nation if there was a presidential death.

"The two options for who would be the successor: I think it's no contest," he said.

The real passion for both Pennys comes when they talk about the top man on the two tickets.

"McCain is essentially a conservative politician but on countless issues — big and important issues — has found a way to reach across the aisle and work with Democrats to get things done," Tim Penny said, literally pulling out a long list of examples ranging from normalization of relations with Vietnam to campaign finance reform to breaking the gridlock over Bush's judicial appointments. "... He's taken on his own party's leadership to work with Democrats to move something forward and get something accomplished.

"And I know how difficult that is in Washington. I know from my own experience you're not rewarded for this kind of bipartisan behavior. You're often punished for it. I think these are examples where he put the country first."

For Marcus Penny, Obama offers ideas, eloquence, organization and a gift for inspiring Americans that will all be in stark contrast to the failures of Bush and his administration in the past eight years. McCain too often — particularly since he began his presidential campaign — has taken positions on taxes, foreign policy and other crucial matters that mirror Bush's, the younger Penny says.

"(Obama's) ability to effectively communicate and undeniably inspire so many millions of Americans is a proven ability. I can't think of a better trait to have in a president of the United States than that one," said Marcus Penny, who thinks that capacity will be critical as America faces difficult challenges. "I believe he's going to be able to — and will — tell the American people what they need to hear."

Tim Penny doesn't discount Obama's gifts, calling him "a smart guy." But he isn't impressed with the first-term senator's resume or agenda — especially compared to McCain's decades-long record of service.

"And there's really no substitute for living through these challenges and being engaged in these issues firsthand," Tim Penny says. " ... The judgment that grows from that, I think, is gold."

Marcus Penny admires McCain's maverick past — noting his opposition to the Bush tax cuts and willingness to take seriously the threat of global climate change. But he lists a number of areas where McCain reversed himself in moving to the right — like on the tax cuts — as he worked to ingratiate himself to the Republican base.

He also questions his father's assertion McCain will be better able to bridge the partisan divide in Washington, saying McCain's ability to unify the nation has been squandered by his decision to run a negative, divisive campaign. Dirty campaign ads, Palin's claims Obama is "palling around with terrorists," and McCain's suggestions voters don't know the "real Sen. Obama" fuel the Internet whisper campaign of falsehoods about Obama and his past, Marcus Penny says.

"By running a campaign like this, they're serving to polarize the electorate for another four or eight years because they're inciting these raw feelings that are only negative," he says. "So I think it's a despicable turn this campaign has taken."

Tim Penny argues that Obama can't be held blameless for the negative turn in the campaign, constantly attempting to paint McCain as a mirror image of Bush and declining McCain's offer to hold 10 joint town-hall meetings.

"I'm not happy with some of his tactics," Tim Penny says of McCain, "but they haven't swayed my fundamental faith in McCain and the kind of leader I know him to be."

"I'd like to comment on that," Marcus Penny says ...

And that's the way the debate goes for nearly 90 minutes, as long as the presidential candidates themselves. But, sitting in the Centennial Student Union at MSU, the Pennys keep it clean and respectful.

The father has the advantage of having done a few thousand more media interviews than his son and occasionally tosses out questions or suggestions when the son is searching for a word. The son — who as a teenager answered "No, I'm not!" after growing tired of being asked endlessly if he was going to be a congressman just like his dad — now appears to be as hooked on public policy and politics as his father.

Both Pennys are still deciding where they'll spend election night, but it doesn't sound like they'll be together. Wherever each is, there will be at least a couple of calls back and forth.

"I can't imagine Election Day without at least a phone call early in the day to speculate about what's going to happen and, especially, a phone call after it's all over," Tim Penny said.

 Neither Penny plans to gloat if his guy wins. Marcus Penny knows what his message to his father will be if Obama prevails:

"‘Wait and see. He'll prove himself to you. Just give him time. You'll be voting for him for re-election in four years.'"

And if McCain scores a comeback victory ...

"My message to Marcus would be exactly the same."

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