The Candidate Nobody Came to Hear
George A. Allen ran against the corporations and the whiskey trust, but his Newport campaign meeting was called off for lack of interest.
George A. Allen, of Colville, candidate for the non-partisan nomination for superior judge of Stevens County, has been in town this week. Mr. Allen claims to be opposed in his campaign by the great corporations, the whiskey trust, and the politicians generally, but says he is in the fight to stay. He undertook to hold a political meeting at the Opera House Wednesday evening in the interest of his candidacy, but so little interest was shown that the meeting was called off. Mr. Allen seems to be very much in earnest in his campaign and announces his intention of staying in the battle until the primary votes are counted.
“Mr. Allen claims to be opposed in his campaign by the great corporations, whiskey trust, and the politicians generally, but says he is in the fight to stay.”
Allen's empty Opera House is a reminder that anti-establishment campaigns have always had to build a crowd, not just a cause. In an era when candidates still rail against "corporations" and "the politicians," the failed meeting feels oddly familiar—and a little humbling.
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