Was he also talking on his cellphone, as apparently he constantly did while his wife (now ex) was delivering his child?

Because if he was drinking .17 (six or mor stiff martinis for his size) and was talking on the cellphone (about the same effect as being that drunk), he was even MORE DANGEROUS!

What is the political 'statute of limitations' on lapses of judgment? I am no fan of McGavick but I don't really see the point of DUI 13 years ago having any meaning the current campaign.

His DUI in 1993 doesn't give any insight into how he will handle his political appointment should he win. I believe he will loose on the issues. Yet to stoke the media flames of his DUI, shifted the debate away from the issues. It also gives him the chance to paint himself as a 'reformed sinner' and anyone who attacks him as 'mean'.

That was on of the tools that got our current coke-head to govern the entire country.

In a grand/extremist view, when we play this sort of 'gotcha' political game we ask our leaders to be live all their lives beyond moral reproach. Doesn't that empower the far right and religious extremist that the liberals and progressives are fighting so hard against?

How far back does this moral mirror go? Maybe he cheated on his girlfriend in college or cheated on the test in high school or repeatedly was found walking the halls without a pass. Does every wrong committed in person's lifetime deserve to be part of a current debate?

when I got arrested and and learned more about what I had done

Is he an idiot? What did he need to learn about what he had done? Driving drunk is driving drunk - if, as a grown man, he needed to "learn about what I had done", he may just be congenitally stupid - and that's a larger problem for someone running for Senate. That's just a dumbass thing to say.

I don't think this McGavick dui is going to get much political traction. Middle aged suburban white guys do this sort of thing all the time. It's just that in many cases they don't get caught and they're not running for office.

Agree with GDC. I would also ask Josh, along with his "cockroach" comment friend, if they've ever driven with a cocktail or two in them.

There is no issue that inspires king-size hypocrisy like driving drunk. Almost anyone who drinks has gotten behind the wheel at some point, usually pretty commonly. Hence, the 772 number (how the hell did they come up with such a specific number, anyway?).

The reason people drive drunk is because we've set up our transportation structure around single-occupant vehicles. And don't give me this shit about taking a cab home...if you go to the bar on Friday night you can't leave your car downtown without getting a ticket Saturday morning. And now everyone rises up and says "you shouldn't have been drinking at all if you drove!" which is all well and good. And totally unrealistic. Why is there no cab service that offers to drive you AND your car home, like they have in some countries in Asia?

And where's my fucking subway? If I can't find a designated driver, my choices are 1) stay home, 2) take a cab and spend $20 extra that I don't have, 3) take a bus, which depending on where you live might be totally unworkable.

Here they come again, saying "isn't a little inconvenience worth saving a life, especially if it's not your own?" Which, again, is all well and good, and, again, totally unrealistic. I and others like me are going to go out and party. Few are in the mood to consider life-death situations on a fun Friday night.

There's how people SHOULD behave, and how they DO behave. We should hope for the former, but plan for the latter.

There are plenty of other execrable things about McGavick to pick on.

GDC: As far as I know, cheating on your girl friend isn't illegal, nor is skipping class in high school. The issue is relevant because what he did violated state and federal laws. And since he's campaigning to be one of the people who make those laws, it's reasonable to debate old DUIs. I agree that it's probably not going to affect the way he performs if elected, and I think the media focuses way too much on shit like this while ignoring the real issues. But since Mike! is the one who brought the DUI up in the first place, I think it's okay to drill him a bit.

So, let me see, we know he's lied recently ("downsizing"), we know he covered up the DUI (recent covering), therefore, we know he's an ACTIVE LIAR.

And we also know he supports teaching Creationism and ID (both unscientific) in our school science classes.

So when did he stop shooting dogs?

My vote is solidified for Mike McGavick for U.S. Senate. What a refreshing change he'll be!

Who are you kidding?

You work for THE STRANGER and your questionin someone else judgement when it comes to substances, abuses and stepping operating a vehicle? (yes, this even applies to bikes)

Give me a fucking break.

Paul and PGR - I wish you would stop trolling, everyone knows you're the same guy.

And, Ian, when I come home tonight, I'm pulling the cable modem out of the wall.

The longer you pursue this, the more votes accrue to McGavick. Hounding a man over a DUI a dozen years ago makes you look like puritanical scolds.

WIS: Cute smug retort. No, we're not the same. Can you try to redirect your hyperbole into something more interesting?

FNARF, if you can't stand puritans, what the HECK are you doing in America? Go enlist, see the world.

They won't take me, Will. But I've managed see quite a bit of the world without them. Nine countries in the past five years!

Try the Coast Guard. Lower admission standards. Or at least the Coast Guard Reserves - you may even get to guard oil shipments thru the straights of .... you know, where Dubai is.

You're never too old for nuts and berries.

But you can be too old for the Coast Guard, and I am. Even the Reserves.

Paul in Seattle,

That's the point: I work for the Stranger. I don't run for U.S. Senate as a Republican—the party that lectures everybody on values and morality and family and marriage. Sheesh, McGavick's stump speech is all about family and God (at least it was in Moses Lake, WA.)...and here he is getting divorced and hinting at a problem with alcohol.

Again, the NHTSA says that if you get pulled over for driving drunk, its likely you've driven drunk 100s of times without getting caught. Certainly, most people I know have gotten behind the wheel after a few drinks (I have), but I don't know many people who have gotten caught or gotten caught at 0.17...

FNARF - great, that means you're in AARP. So go down to the Ninth Ward and start ripping out the innards of houses there. Action. Not words.

Blow it out your ass, Will. I'm not in fucking AARP.

A good friend and my wife’s professional colleague related a 4-yr. old story about “Malt Liquour Mike� to me last night. Seems he approached her at a charity fundraiser, asked her to dance. Recovering from recent hip replacement surgery, she demurred. He didn’t buy it, and asked to see the scars. She parried, then he lifted the hem of her dress past her hips, in the middle of the lobby. And, yes, he was totally smashed.