Harold Stassen
“ A perennial presidential candidate,” was how former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen was often described in the press subsequent to 1952 when he filed for the Republican nomination for that that office for the period from 1944 for through 1992, and his filings for most of those years were sources of amusement to both the public and the press. But histories of those first presidential campaigns remind readers that Stassen, while he would in time would be a comic figure, was in fact a viable candidate in both 1948 and 1952, and was considered the front runner in the former contest but was ultimately defeated by New York governor Thomas E. Dewey, and that he ensured that Dwight Eisenhower won the GOP presidential nomination in the latter year by agreeing to shift his delegates to him. Eisenhower subsequently defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson in that race. Stassen, who was born in 1907, had been elected governor of Minnesota in 1938 , which made him the youngest person to ever win that post, at that time. And it seems that Oklahoma Democratic politics has a character who is increasingly in the model of the latter Harold Stassen in the person of Tom Guild, a former political science professor at the University of Central Oklahoma, who later taught law classes at Oklahoma City School of Law, and is in many ways an impressive figure. Guild had been abandoned by his parents at the age of six, and spent time in foster care until he was adopted By Doctor Carl Guild and his wife Friada Guild. He obtained an undergraduate degree from OU and later was awarded a law degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas Texas. Beginning in 2012 and continuing through 2020, Guild has run for the Democratic nomination for the U S Fifth Congressional District, but has been defeated in all of those contests for the nomination. This year, he sought the Democratic nomination for the post of Oklahoma County Treasurer, and was defeated in the primary by Brandon Kirkpatrick. In his campaigns for the U S Congress, Guild boldly spoke of his commitment to issues such as the extension of health care to all and support for labor unions in a red district, and his often persuasive efforts may have swayed some rock ribbed Republican voters to be more flexible on such matters. Guild has filed for the post of Oklahoma County Clerk, where he joins several other Democratic candidates, including long time party activist Sean Cummings and while it is unlikely that he will win the nomination, he will surely siphon off voters and a degree of financial contributions from the other aspirants. At a time when the Oklahoma County electorate appears to be evolving into a place more responsive to the Democratic Party and it’s ideals, it would seem that this would be a good time for Tom Guild to enjoy an honorable retirement from electoral politics and allow a younger generation of leaders to challenge the GOP’s dominance in the area.
Against the Grain 