Friday for the Governor of Missouri Peter Kinder & Three Navy Seals with an airplane
By: Jake Zweig
Tuesday afternoon—the call came in. My good friend Jared Ogden wanted to ask me to do something. Would I stump for Peter Kinder, the LT Governor of Missouri, who is making a run for Governor? Well, I was just blown away. I’m no stranger to Missouri since I spent most of my summers as a kid there and half of my family lives in the St. Louis area and I’m also no stranger to Missouri issues, as well as, its leaders and candidates. Peter Kinder has a sterling record of public service and, most important, he has the character to lead. I was especially impressed with the way he handled adversity, since I’m a bit of an expert on navigating hazardous straits! I told Jared I was definitely in and he responded that I had two days to prepare because I start on Friday—politics moves fast.
I had a few phone conversations with Peter Kinder and his amazing campaign manager, Pam Dixon, and I knew this trip was going to be something special. My energy level was through the roof. As promised, two days later, I stepped off the plane in St. Louis and when the smell of the Mississippi river hit me I was back to my summers as a kid. Pam picked me up and we went over some talking points and had a working dinner to ensure everything was covered. I wish I could say I got some sleep that night, but the excitement got the best of me and with three hours of sleep, I woke up at 4 am got in a quick workout and review of my notes and I was ready to go.
Pam picked me up that morning along with, Miguel Yanez, another kickass buddy of mine from the Navy SEAL teams. The first stop was Jared Ogden’s awesome company, Triumph Systems, in downtown St. Louis. We emerged in front of the press corps—a team of three Navy SEALs and the future Governor of Missouri. After Peter’s opening remarks, Miguel spoke about strong leadership and the need for a new prospective on government. Miguel then introduced me and I was off—I talked about spending my youth in St. Louis and about the inherent qualities of a great leader. I wish I could say I killed it, but perfection is not one of my qualities, and at the end of my comments I forgot to introduce Jared, so after a slap to the head we jumped back on track and Jared hit it out of the park. We answered some questions from the press and then it was off to the regional airport and our next stop, Cape Girardeau.
Now, let me take a break from the political action and give you some insight into what it’s like doing things with Navy SEALs. Since the acronym includes “Air” (it stands for “Sea, Air, and Land” – which is where we operate) and the charter aircraft had only six passenger seats for seven people, the three of us fought over who would ride co-pilot “shotgun.”
Jared drew the long straw for the trip down (but my turn is coming for the next leg!) and we touched down in Cape Girardeau 35 minutes later. Our next presentation was at the VFW where a large crowd gathered and listened to us and asked some incisive questions. Then, back to the airport for our flight to Springfield. As I mentioned, this was my leg in the seat and not one to be outdone by Jared, I put my ridiculously inadequate hours of flight training to use and got us up and on to auto-pilot.
Arriving in Springfield, we are now a well-oiled briefing machine. We held another press conference, answered questions, and went back on the plane for the flight to Joplin. Since Joplin was the last stop on our four city tour, we took our time to ensure we answered all the questions and to conduct personal interviews.
The tour was over and when we returned to St. Louis, we gathered at Jared’s posh flat to grill hot dogs and hang out for a bit. One last picture with Miguel and his newly lifted “pistol” coffee mug from Triumph Systems, and we wrapped up.
Later that evening, I visited my aunt and uncle in Baldwin, Missouri, and was truly happy and grateful for the incredible opportunity to stump for Peter Kinder. Talking with my aunt in the kitchen, she thanked me for the amazing message on her answering machine.
“Hi, I’m Jake Zweig, Navy SEAL. I want to invite you to join me and two of my SEAL teammates tomorrow, as we endorse our friend and the next Governor of Missouri, Peter Kinder. Peter is a proven leader, a man of action, and a trusted conservative. We will be at Triumph Systems at 1501 Locust in St. Louis tomorrow at 9 am and hope you’ll join us. This call was paid for by Missourians for Peter Kinder.”
It was a great day.
By: Jake Zweig