I just finished reading David Maraniss’ outstanding book “They Marched Into Sunlight,” which juxtaposes the anti-Vietnam War protests on the UW-Madison campus with an actual battle fought overseas. I’ll have plenty to say about the book in the next few days, given that it contains so much interesting information about Madison and Wisconsin.

There’s one story from the book that I found particularly entertaining, which involves former Madison Mayor Paul Soglin during his protest days. In May of 1966, there was a demonstration to protest the policy of the UW giving out grades to the Selective Service, which had announced that deferments would be granted based on academic performance.

According to the book, Soglin met a girl during the protest, and wanted to take her back to his apartment, as any sane young man would do. Unfortunately, he knew he had to be there for the cameras in case the cops came in to bust everything up. So he snuck outside and found the campus police chief, who assured him that the cops wouldn’t be moving in soon. Having heard what he needed, Soglin and the girl snuck out a little past midnight.

The footnotes say the story was provided by Soglin in an April 10, 2002 interview – and it’s a good one. Naturally, a sizeable portion of the book is about Soglin, as he was an active leader in the anti-war demostrations prior to his years on the city council and as mayor. In fact, it’s probably hard to pick out a more influential political figure in Madison politics over the past 40 years.

This actually illustrates how interesting Soglin is these days. When such a large political figure exits the public stage, it seems they always move on to the lecture circuit, academia, or some special emeritus position where they can stay involved, but not really work all that hard. Soglin, on the other hand, has just continued out in the workforce. Essentially, he’s a dude with a job, like everyone else. (Although he does teach a class at the UW) And he’s also a dorky blogger like the rest of us. That is actually great – although a little different than the paths taken by other political bigshots.

I follow national politics less than I do Wisconsin politics, if only because of the nature of my job. And seriously, one can only take so much.

Furthermore, I am one of the 99% of Americans who have completely tuned out the whole Scooter Libby story. Sure, Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame are self-aggrandizing dirtbags, and Libby probably got a raw deal – but who really cares at this point?

That’s why I watched in horror yesterday, as the panelists on “Meet the Press” spent a big chunk of the show discussing the “Libby pardon” controversy. As if anyone outside the beltline even cares. This is so typical of the Capitol Hill press – this story is a big deal to everyone they talk to, so people must care around the country, right?

Much talk was bandied about the table regarding what effect a pardon would have on “the base” of the Republican party. Seriously, who are these members of “the base” who are waiting breathlessly at home to make their decision on whether to support George Bush based on whether he pardons Scooter Libby? Are the hard core Republicans really going to vote for Barack Obama if Libby does hard time?

Honestly, this just shows how completely out of touch those in D.C. are. The bunny rabbit in my yard that continues to eat my shrubs has more to do with my daily life than both the Libby and Alberto Gonzalez “controversies” combined. If a meteor flew in from space and landed on Scooter Libby, it wouldn’t make any difference in the life of any American. Is there really that little to talk about?