Dukes of Hazard actor recounts what it's like to run against Newt Gingrich

Ben Jones, who played the mechanic "Cooter" on the spectacularly awful 70s series, The Dukes of Hazzard has told Salon what it was like to run for reelection to Congress against "a great demagogue" in 1994 in Georgia’s brand new, gerrymandered-for-the-GOP 6th District.

“I forget exactly why, but he misused a word once in an interview and called me ‘scurrilous,’” Jones recounts. “Now, what scurrilous really means is profane – someone who curses. So I came out of some event and there was a reporter from the Atlanta Constitution. And the guy says, ‘What do you think about Newt Gingrich calling you scurrilous?’ And I said, ‘Aw, f— him and the horse he rode in on.’ And the guy laughed, but there was a guy there too from the alternative paper, and he printed it. And then Gingrich said, ‘I’m not going to debate this man! He says things you can’t print in a family newspaper!’ And he demanded an apology. So I said, ‘I tell you what: I’ll apologize to your horse right now and I’ll apologize to you when I see you at the debate.”

     But when a public television station scheduled a debate, Gingrich was a no-show, leaving Jones to square off against an empty lectern. To generate attention, Jones decided to follow Gingrich around the country, crashing speeches and fundraisers in Wisconsin, Connecticut and Alabama and trying in vain to force a confrontation with his opponent. At one point, he even brought a set of bloodhounds along to aid the search...

     “I didn’t see much of him, but we had fun,” says Jones.

     And if the White House asks for a scouting report?

     “The only advice I would give is: Do not take him lightly. Out-work him, out-talk him, go at him, challenge him to debates all over the country.”