I Do a Podcast (well, a Substack but basically the same thing)

Ben Samuels has a Substack and is doing a series of podcasts with former Members of Congress, asking us, "How much are things really worse today?" Ben, who is from St. Louis, dropped Jeff Smith's name (my daughter took his class at Wash U. back in the 2000's), which was enough to get me to agree to do a session with Ben. It  was fun and is now up and available - click here or below, and let me know what you think. It's like a Congress to Campus session without having to take a college class:

Sam Coppersmith (D-AZ): DC, the NFL, and democracy by Ben Samuels

Listen to his thoughts on serving as a one-term Congressman and why "all politics is local" isn't true anymore.

Read on Substack

Cactus Man Triathlon 2025

I thought that aging up this year to the 70-74 age group would move me on to (or at least closer) to the podium, but this is a very popular triathlon among the old guys, and 4 others were just too fast for me. I had a nice day overall, but of course, there were issues. I had trouble sighting the first turn buoy on the swim, so went astray and swam longer than necessary, and had trouble removing my wetsuit and a problem with one bicycle shoe in T1. But the bike ride went well, and I thought I did well on the run - especially as we all think it was a quarter-mile too long.

I wound up 3 minutes longer than last year, and instead of finishing 12/13 AG, I was 5/7. So I guess that's an improvement. But the weather was great, it's a fun race with lots of friends, and everybody else from Tri Scottsdale did very well.

Swim 33:33.5 (wetsuit)

T1 6:38.1 (wetsuit difficulties, bike shoe issue)
Bike 1:06:57.0 (under 20 miles)
T2 3:38.9
Run 1:12:38.5 (6.5 mi?)
Overall 3:03:28.3
Division 5/7, gender 162/192, overall 210/256

My results here, full results here, and photos here.

Grand Canyon State Election Security: A Bipartisan Town Hall on Arizona Elections

Here's the video of the September 16 town hall. The audio isn't the best and next time I'll learn to basically swallow the mic.

Bipartisan Election Security Panel - Mesa, September 16

 

I'm part of a bipartisan (and all star!) Grand Canyon State Election Security Event on Monday, September 16th, 2024, at 7 PM MST in the Conference Theater in Building B at the Mesa Convention Center. The event will feature a bipartisan discussion of common concerns related to election security and integrity in Arizona and Maricopa County, by Former Members of Congress Hon. Karan English (D-AZ) and Hon. Matt Salmon (R-AZ), Secretary of State Hon. Adrian Fontes (D-AZ), Maricopa County Recorder Hon. Stephen Richer (R-AZ), and me (D-AZ). The panel will be followed by a question-and-answer period where audience members can engage in a dialogue with our panelists on this topic.

Please RSVP to electionstownhall@usafmc.org

Panelists:

• The Hon. Sam Coppersmith (D-AZ, 1993-1995)
• The Hon. Karan English (D-AZ, 1993-1995)
• The Hon. Adrian Fontes, Arizona Secretary of State (D-AZ, 2023-Present)
• The Hon. Stephen Richer, Maricopa County Recorder (R-AZ, 2021-Present)
• The Hon. Matt Salmon (R-AZ, 1995-2001; 2013-2017) 

Moderator:

• TBD

Program Time: 7 PM-8:15 PM ET

Program Venue: Mesa Convention Center, Building B, Conference Theater (263 N. Center Street, Mesa, AZ 85201)

Parking: There is ample parking at the Mesa Convention Center.

Audience & Rationale Behind Event: This will be a town hall-style event for an audience made up of Mesa and surrounding area Veterans, Small Business Leaders, Police, Firefighters, Faith Leaders because those groups poll the best when it comes to who voters on both sides of the aisle trust in Arizona, as well as members of other associations and civically active groups. The goal of the town hall is to give those trusted messengers, the information they need to share with their constituents, peers, and neighbors, why Arizona and Maricopa County elections are secure and fair, from when the event takes place on September 16^th through the November election.

Program Summary: The hour-to-ninety-minute-long program will begin with a thirty-to-forty-minute-long panel discussion, which will address the most common concerns voters on either side of the aisle have about Arizona and Maricopa County elections, what measures are in place to prevent those concerns from happening, and an explanation of relevant election law and processes.

Oregon 70.3

Ironman Oregon 70.3, in Salem, was my big race for the year. I signed up August of last year, because the race always sells out fast, without realizing that I might not want to do a big race less than 2 months after my wedding - or without knowing that TriBike Transport would go out of business and disappear after I paid for shipping but before the race.

But even with everything that was going on, and a foot injury in late May that prevented running at all for a month, I had a pretty good day, considering: 6:52:20, about a minute-and-a-half slower than last year at Maine, but a very reasonable finish in my age group (39/52), considering I am at the oldest part of 65-69.

Very nice course. It's a downhill swim that other people did faster than me, but I went without a wetsuit based on my experience last year. I wound up 6 minutes slower in the Willamette than in the Kennebec, as the best current was off to my left. Transitions were fine. I had an excellent bike ride, with a negative split by 13 (!) minutes, but a very slow run, which was more like a race walk. Still, under 7 hours, which was my original goal. Additional photos here, full results here.

The numbers:
Swim 26:19 (no wetsuit)
T1 9:46
Bike 3:14:02 (with negative split, 1:39:31/1:26:11)
T2 7:50
Run 2:54:25
Overall 6:52:20
Division 39/52 (+2 beyond cutoff and +6 DNS), gender 1,148/1,334, overall 1,774/2,232, IM points 1475

Weirdly, as far as the race selling out, I walked to the swim start with a retired physician from Salem, whose wife worked as a volunteer at check-in, who told me that about 300 people registered for the event did not check in before it closed on Saturday - so there were potentially ~300 "standby" slots available that World Triathlon Corporation could have sold twice (and you know they would do it if they could).

Cactus Man Triathlon 2024

This year's course changed from past years. The biggest change was the bike course, which stayed west of Mill Avenue, which meant the sprint course was 2 loops and the "international" (not Olympic) course was 4 loops, and even so, the bike course was more than 5 miles shorter than past years. The run course also went west of transition and the Tempe Arts Center, so fewer climbs (or "climbs") and it was measured accurately, at least by my watch.

With the shorter bike time, I managed to finish under 3 hours (by 17 seconds!), but that made me 12/13 in my age group. (Too many fast 65-year-olds.) Swim was about the same as last year, bike was 20 minutes shorter due to the shorter course, and run was almost 3 minutes faster. Where I lost time was in T1, where I started to cramp coming out of my wetsuit and had to work through that, and lost about 3 minutes. Full results here, my result here, photos here.

Data:

Swim 30:54.9 (wetsuit)
T1 7:05.2 (wetsuit-related cramp)
Bike 1:06:52.8 (under 20 miles)
T2 3:17.8
Run 1:11:31.9
Overall 2:59:42.8
Division 12/13, gender 191/222, overall 242/286