Oh and you don’t need to know anything about sports, all you need to know is that successful sports figures are loved by the local populace and the have name recognition.
That’s why despite his age we needed Coach Osborne to run against Ben Nelson. And it was a testament to surprising good judgment that he lost the gubernatorial primary to the new incumbent who had done nothing to warrant losing the job and was better on the key issue of tuition for illegals.
Maybe better Osborne didn’t. He would’ve been a Hagelite RINO squish. You remember his running mate got so mad they weren’t nominated she switched parties immediately and got the Dems to put her on the ballot for reelection to her statewide office — thankfully she lost handily.