Some day I hope to be like Mr. Durham, a kind man I met on Tuesday. I was in Clermont County, Ohio, just east of Cincinnati, going door-to-door for Paul Hackett, Democrat for U.S. Congress. While I knocked on many doors, and encountered many people that afternoon, Mr. Durham left the most favorable impression.

A little slow to answer the door, Mr.Durham had plenty to say about the race. First, he told me he voted for "our boy" in the morning. He also told me he had met Mr. Hackett's opponent at church. She told him she was running for Congress, he asked from which party. When she responded Republican, he told her he had never voted for one in his life.

Mr. Durham will be 89 next month, on the 12th of September. If my math is correct, this man was born in 1916. There's been quite a few elections since the mid-1930's, when he first would have been eligible to vote. A long since retired iron worker, Mr. Durham lives in a district that voted Bush 2 to 1 in last year's presidential election. Still, the man has never voted Republican.

Not Eisenhower, not Nixon, not even Reagan. Mr. Durham did tell me he respected John Voinivich, a Republican senator from the Buckeye State. Point being, while many of us vote straight ticket, few of us can acknowledge a good legislator from the opposing party. I struggle to find redeeming qualities in Republican politicians, but Olympia Snowe from Maine comes to mind for her efforts to protect the environment.

Mr. Durham invited me in to his home, which I had to decline as there was hardly an hour left until the polls closed. He also said another kind thing. He wished me at least 89 years of living. While that remains to be seen, I would like to add the hope of never voting Republican. After Tuesday's encounter with Mr. Durham, I am all the more inspired to make it so.