It was one of this year’s many rather-mild-late-winter-days, and me and the fam were meeting some friends at Bellevue’s riverside American Heroes Park. On one hand, I had heard very good things about the park and its features. On the other hand, it’s a playground – how great could it be? No one told me it was a super-awesome-over-the-top-something-for-everyone playground with the power to bridge the ever-widening socio-economic divides which threaten the very patchwork fabric of modern America. Okay, that last part might have been inferred by my own personal observation, but still.

I wonder what Dwight Eisenhower would think if he were alive today.

For that matter, I wonder if I got a hundred people in a room who were all under the age of 40 and I asked them if they even knew who Dwight David Eisenhower was, how many would know.

You’re probably wondering why I would wonder such a thing. After all, while historians appreciate all he accomplished, when the average American thinks of the great presidents, his name doesn’t normally rise to the top of the list.

But maybe we should give his legacy a second look.

The local Bellevue channels are awash with the news and developments of our new waterpark. Like everything else online, public opinion is varied and extreme. I, for one, am quite excited. Living just a couple of minutes away, my girls are already planning their first birthdays following the opening, not to mention the year-round fun afforded by the park’s main enclosure. Now, for obvious reasons, the public is mostly focused on promotional renderings and official updates from the city.

I wonder how much the Democrats trust the voters in places like Grand Island, Scottsbluff, or Hastings. How much do they trust them to elect a Democrat to the Unicameral or a Republican who has the courage to stand up to Governor Pillen and will work to protect the so-called blue dot?

For that matter, how much do they trust Nebraska voters to elect Lynne Walz for Governor?

Because John Cavanaugh’s quest to win the Democratic nomination for the Second Congressional District hinges on the trust of Democratic and Independent voters for those out state areas to do just that.