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Largent Comes to ORU
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Steve Largent 1 During the course of the evening, Largent talked about how he got into politics after being a professional football player for 14 years. Oklahoma Sen. Don Nickles encouraged him to run for office. "I said I'd think about it." He and his wife prayed and fasted for 10 days. "I was still adamantly opposed to it, but I knew it was what I was supposed to do," he said.
Largent made his decision just six weeks before the primary. "I had six weeks to raise money, get volunteers, and figure out what my yard sign should look like," he joked. Terry Allen (86) was his campaign manager.
In six weeks, Largent had 300 volunteers and $300,000. He won the primary with 51.3 percent of the vote. At that point, "I'm starting to sweat," he said, "because I'm thinking, I might win this thing."
Although he was outspent two to one in the general election, he won with 63 percent of the vote.
Largent talked about the sense of disenfranchisement that the younger generation feels. "I believe the greatest problem is alienation," he said. "People of faith have the solution to this alienation. It's reconciliation. Steve Largent 2
"Reconciliation means learning to say I'm sorry, I was wrong, would you forgive me? If you'll do this--be a reconciler--you'll change this university, this community.
"I hope this generation will become known as reconcilers."
Students asked Largent for his views on abortion (he believes life begins at conception), the president's proposed tax cut, the death penalty (he thinks it is just), affirmative action (he believes in equal opportunity, but not in quotas), the chances of having a female or a minority president in the near future, how he balances his work and family life, and his opinion of the new president.
"The worst thing he does is campaign," Largent said to the last question. "He had that deer in the headlights look." Although he has only met Bush briefly, he said, "My gut instinct is that he's going to be a terrific president."
