So Studs has gone from fighting for a socialist America to simply hoping that a moderate Democrat wins the White House. It's sad to see such a great man start setting his standards so low at such a late age.

Aaron, it may well be Terkel like Jon S. says, and it may be that Keillor wants to suggest it's Terkel because he(G.K.) wants to use this anecdote to promote Obama, but recognizes if he actually said it was Terkel that Terkel might object, insisting that he wasn't endorsing anybody and didn't care for words being put in his mouth.

Please forgive the tortuous sentence. But I suspect you will know what I mean.

Thanks for putting that together

Studs Terkel is a Chicago institution and with his friend Nelson Algren, they are the pillars of this city. Any person walking on the street would recognize his name because he has talked to them and written about them so he is NOT giving up their cause. When he says, it is too good to be true i.e. Sen Obama winning the race, he knows, Chicago is the most segregated city in the country and racism is still rampant and Americans may just vote for Sen McCain rather than for Sen Obama because of his race. And if Sen McCain wins, that would be a catstrophe.

I thought Studs was a martini drinker not a scotch drinker? But he's definitely the subject of Keillor's piece (Chicago + "Touch And Go" is the name one of Studs' memoirs) I think the last person Studs seriously endorsed was Kucinich -- he interviewed Kucinich when Dennis was the then youngest mayor of an American city in and then years later wrote an endorsement called "Kucinich is the One" that was in The Nation, I think, for 2000 election.