He’s Practicing What He Preaches

A canopy of trees drew Terry Carson deep into politics.

Local commissioners in Bainbridge, Ohio, wanted to chop the oaks and maples that lined his residential street so they could widen it. Carson and his wife, Janet, led a successful drive in the mid-1970s to oust those officials.

“People in government have a responsibility to understand they’re just there temporarily to assist and enable and facilitate people’s lives,” says Carson, 57, who still lives in that town in the exurbs of Cleveland.

The trees are still there, too, but Carson is almost too busy to notice them. He’s headed to Denver for the Democratic convention that will nominate Barack Obama. He holds no formal party title beyond delegate, but has helped organize countless campaigns—from runs for local offices to Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid.

Janet Carson, who also is a delegate, says he’s the resident Web expert and behind-the-scenes worker. And he puts up with her crazy schedule as Geauga County Democratic chairwoman.

“If we hadn’t shared the same beliefs and drive to change our government and be active, we probably wouldn’t have stayed together so long,” Janet Carson says.

The two were high school sweethearts and would drive to Washington to participate in rallies against the Vietnam War. Carson drew a high draft number, protecting him from forced military service, but still felt strongly opposed to the war.

Now a different war tops his concerns in this election campaign, leaving him worried about how the drain of resources to the Iraq effort is hurting the U.S. economy. He is disappointed that his candidate, Clinton, won’t be the nominee but still looks forward to attending his first national convention.

He and Janet decided to campaign to be delegates when a friend wanted to run as a slate with them. They added a high school student to the slate so she could ride their coattails and have a chance at attending the convention. They all won.

Carson considers himself a student of politics and hopes to learn plenty at the convention. In addition to ideas from other party organizers, he’s hoping to understand why national campaigns seem so foreign to Main Street U.S.A., or at least to him in the nation’s heartland.

“National campaigns don’t seem to relate well to the person on the street,” he says. “It seems to be all about TV, instead of on the ground, door-to-door.”

The Carsons’ political work is just part of how they’ve grown together as a couple during their 38-year marriage, he says. Carson skipped college and drove a truck for several years before his entrepreneurial streak kicked in. He and Janet opened an insurance agency 35 years ago, and now half the employees are family, including one of their two grown children.

When his son and daughter were young, he took them to communist Hungary to show them “what happens when you don’t take charge of your own government.”

When he gets to Denver, he’ll be doing his part to take part in his government.

Tamara Lytle was Washington bureau chief and a correspondent for the Orlando Sentinel from 1997 to 2008.