ST. LOUIS — What began as a grass roots movement first reported by St. Louis Breaking News & World Report may now be developing into a slightly more plausible possibility.
St. Louis HVAC contractor and radio personality Bart Inman recently responded good-naturedly in one of his radio commercials to our earlier report raising the possibility of an Inman 2028 presidential campaign.
Rather than issuing the customary cease-and-desist letter, demanding a retraction or pretending he had never heard of us, Inman laughingly denied he wanted to run yet appeared to leave the door open.
“For the record I am not running for president,” he said on the radio ad. “But I am warming up to the idea!”
While appearing amused by the notion of running, Inman stopped well short of ordering campaign signs, forming an exploratory committee or demanding that the Secret Service begin checking the ductwork at his house. “I can handle that!” he quipped.
Still, political observers at St. Louis Breaking immediately noticed that he did not definitively rule it out.
And in modern American politics, that is practically a campaign announcement.
Sources close to absolutely nobody say Inman remains highly doubtful that the American people are ready to entrust the nuclear codes to an HVAC contractor.
Nevertheless, he is reportedly willing to entertain the idea if a sufficiently large grassroots movement develops.
“I’m doubtful that an HVAC guy from St. Louis is really the person America is looking for to cool down passions and heat up patriotism. But I do love this country and I do know a lot about ‘draft’ movements.”
Political consultants immediately described the phrase “Cool Down Passions. Heat Up Patriotism” as considerably better than anything produced by either major political party during the past decade.
The potential campaign would present several unusual advantages.
Unlike most presidential candidates, Inman already knows how to diagnose a system that is noisy, inefficient, leaking badly and costing everybody far too much money.
He also has extensive experience telling people that the problem is more complicated than they think and will probably require replacing several components.
“This skill set transfers almost perfectly to Washington,” said one local political analyst.
Supporters have also begun speculating about other possible campaign slogans, including “Make America Comfortable Again,” “I’m In For Inman” and “Bart Inman: Because Washington Has Been Blowing Hot Air Long Enough.”
There are, however, serious obstacles.
Presidential campaigns require enormous fundraising organizations, national political networks, sophisticated voter databases and months of relentless travel.
Inman currently has trucks and has only taken one trip outside St. Louis in the last five years – to the Lake of the Ozarks.
But St. Louis Breaking will continue monitoring the situation closely.
