Primary contests evoke Sonoma County memories of comedian Pat Paulsen

If comic and “Mayor of Asti” Pat Paulsen were still alive today, what would he be doing?

You’re right! He’d be running for president and making Sonoma County wine.

The droop-faced and wickedly funny “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” star campaigned tongue-in-cheek for leader of the free world in 1968, 1972, 1980, 1988, 1992 and 1996. One of his greatest quotations on the stump: “I’ve upped my standards, now up yours!”

Pat spiced up the presidential races, and he sometimes did remarkably well at the polls.

He defeated Ross Perot in the North Dakota primary of 1992, and in 1996, just a year before his death at age 69, he placed second behind President Bill Clinton in New Hampshire’s Democrat Party primary.

It’s fun to remember Pat, a man who adored Sonoma County, and to imagine the fun he’d have with this current presidential campaign.

He’d surely repeat his view of one of the nation’s most contentious issues: “All the problems we face in the United States today can be traced to an unenlightened immigration policy - on the part of the American Indian.”

NO WOMAN and no girl should live with violence or the fear of being attacked, quite possibly in their own homes.

What a long ways we have to go to make a safe world a reality. A march and rally today in Santa Rosa are part of a global effort to move us closer to the goal.

The movement is called One Billion Rising. It shows itself in Sonoma County Sunday (Feb. 14) in an 11 a.m. walk from Old Courthouse Square to Santa Rosa Junior College. Featured in a program from noon to 2 p.m. in the Bertolini Student Center will be speeches, music and dance.

A worthy occasion for bringing together men and women, boys and girls on Valentine’s Day, isn’t it?

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TINY HOUSES are becoming a big thing. How do you suppose it would feel to win one?

A 171-square-foot residence designed by the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company will be raffled off by the Council on Aging. The Santa Rosa-based nonprofit will sell no more than 1,500 tickets, at $200 each.

The adorable, itty-bitty house will be built by students at SRJC’s Shone Farm. It’ll come on a trailer so it can quite easily moved about.

The Council on Aging’s Alyssa Kutzer says the best way to arrange to buy a ticket or tickets, really, is to phone her at 525-0143, extension 146.

The drawing’s on June 1. If you win, how many folks do you figure you’ll invite to the housewarming?

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HEATHER GRAHAM a friend of yours? Me, neither.

But the actress, who went from TV commercials to movies ("Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," "Boogie Nights," "The Hangover"), has completely wowed and won over Petaluma-born actor David Banks.

Like Graham, Banks, a 1990 graduate of Petaluma High, has done well in commercials. He’s done more than 100 of them, often appearing as a guy who’s neurotic and annoying.

Banks has appearred in movies, too, but never before in a role as big as the one he scored in Heather Graham’s directorial debut film, “Half Magic.”

“This is probably the most fun I’ve ever had in a film,” Banks said from L.A. He hopes we’ll have a similar experience watching it.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to remove an error in a quote attributed to Pat Paulsen.

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.