Among the volumes of material deployed by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker during a marathon speech that crossed the 24-hour mark Tuesday was a quick reference to the man of the hour in Milwaukee, Bob Uecker.
The reference, Uecker's famous "I must be in the front row" line, came just moments before Booker's act of protest against the sweeping policies of President Donald Trump eclipsed the previous record for the longest floor speech — Strom Thurmond's 1957 speech against the Civil Rights Act that lasted 24 hours, 18 minutes.
Booker was relaying a story about a time he and the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis visited former President Jimmy Carter in Georgia, where Carter was teaching Sunday school.
"I have the singular greatest road trip," Booker said. "I fly into Atlanta, we get into a car, and we drive all those hours to Plains, Georgia. People were waiting outside, but it's John Lewis, (so people told us to) 'C'mon in.' We sit in the front row. I must be in the front row! And we sit down. And then this marvelous and incredible moment comes (when I got to meet Carter)."
Booker said it was the first time he got to meet Carter, who already had a long and cordial relationship with Lewis.
As it happens, that very same line can be spotted on a giant banner in the right-field corner of American Family Field, one of many tributes around the stadium to Uecker, who died in January at age 90. The Brewers opened their home schedule Monday afternoon.
The line was popularized by Uecker's character in a series of Miller Lite ads, specifically in one ad where Uecker mistakenly believes he's being ushered out of his seat to an upgrade. Instead, he's banished to the upper deck.
Since Booker started speaking at 6 p.m. CT Monday, the senior senator from New Jersey hasn't eaten. He has periodically sipped from two glasses of water that sit on his desk near five three-ring binders and a box of tissues. And he hasn't left the chamber to go to the bathroom.
Booker can and has allowed other Democratic senators to give short ...
