Roy Herron is a Democrat running for Congress in Tennessee. Glenn Reynolds reprints an email he received from Herron (pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/95867):

My top three priorities in Washington will be fiscal responsibility, fiscal responsibility, and fiscal responsibility... ...I drive a 12-year-old truck with 375,000 miles on it. My sons call me cheap, but Washington needs more of us with 375,000-mile pickups who’ll spend your money like our own.

To which Reynolds says, "Sounding more like Scott Brown than Barack Obama... And who’s this “Washington” he’s running against, exactly?..."

Where does one begin?

1. Using a truck as a prop is a sure-fire sign that someone thinks you're stupid: they're trying to pretend to be Everyman when they aren't. Scott Brown isn't Everyman, and neither is Fred Thompson (whose truck was taken to his campaign appearances on a trailer). Needless to say, Glenn Reynolds is helping Herron with his hunt for useful idiots rather than calling Herron on it.

2. A 1998/99 truck isn't that old, but 375,000 is a lot of miles. You never know, but there's a very good chance that at least the engine is a rebuilt and doesn't have that many miles.

3. While automobiles aren't like, say, computers, and there are many factors involved, a newer vehicle will probably have better mileage, better emissions, better safety, and be more reliable. All of those are costs, both to Herron and to others. He's probably very slightly raising the risks for himself and others, probably very slightly having an even more negative impact on others' health, and increasing the chances that he'd be stranded somewhere thus raising costs for himself and possibly for others (police, etc.) Those are all trade-offs, but if he can afford it (and he probably can), perhaps he should scrap the junker and get a better truck. Unless, of course, it's just a prop. (Whether it's fair to call him penny-wise-pound-foolish depends on the condition of the truck, but it's probably getting to that point.)

4. And, of course, Herron is concentrating (or pretending to concentrate) on what is basically a symptom of a deeper problem. There's not a single instance of immigration on his site (royherron.com) which obviously isn't such a good sign about his claim to reduce spending.