Read other letters about this article
but it's sort of off topic.
I worked at an Idaho daily, and Craig was traveling through, wanting to talk about his Senate campaign. He'd been in the House, but wanted to take over Jim McClure's Senate seat.
I drew the short straw and had to sit down with Craig, his campaign guru and the editorial board. They said nothing noteworthy, and were finally packing up to leave, when the campaign chief decided to tell a joke, and for the sake of brevity, I'll convert the anecdote to a question:
Why are condoms sold in packs of seven, nine and 12?
- The sevens are for Asians -- Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday ....
- The nines are for African Americans -- S, M, T, W, Th, twice on Friday, twice on Saturday.
- The 12s are for whites -- January, February ...
We din't do a story on this joke, deciding that the levity occurred after the interview was over and we'd regard it as "off the record." Plus, at the time, it seemed the joke was more aimed at whites than the other minorities mentioned. And, well, our readers would have thought it was hilarious and we already had a comics page.
But I do remember Craig's face becoming prudishly flat and expressionless. He wasn't amused. Can't blame him, really.