Pennies for paper clips?

State Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, put out a somewhat plaintive request for money this past week to help fire his campaign for Congress in the 3rd Congressional District.

“In the next few days, we’ll be opening up the Pridemore for Congress campaign headquarters in Vancouver,” he wrote. “It’s going to be great to have a place buzzing with volunteers. To turn the empty office into Pridemore Central, however, we’ll need your help.”

Turns out Pridemore needs donations “to help us turn on the telephone lines.”

“More phones means more volunteers making calls to voters,” he explained.

And that’s not all. Once the office is open, he said, “we’ll definitely ask for your help in stocking up with office supplies, donated furniture, and more.”

It’s all in keeping with Pridemore’s effort to capitalize on his underdog image. “In all four of my previous campaigns we faced opposition from well-funded establishment candidates,” he noted, “and on the strength of grassroots energy, we won every time.”

Kathie Durbin