The great Will Eisner, creator of “The Spirit” and long-time advocate of comic books as a real art form, has died.

I met him once. I said I’d wanted to meet him ever since I’d discovered The Spirit in a reprint book in the mid-1960s. He said, “Why didn’t you send me a letter?”

Good-bye, Will. I’m glad you were here.

Okay, I think I know what happened.

The Republicans sent out a flyer—or maybe it was a television ad—and it got a great response. It said something like this: “You can tell a lot about a man by the enemies he makes.” And then it showed Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, and me.

They may have shown me wearing a John Kerry campaign button. If they didn’t have a photo of me with a button, they could easily Photoshop it in. They probably explained that I’d given money to John Kerry’s campaign and to the Democratic National Committee. Maybe they quoted some of my political blog entries.

Anyway, the flyer or ad or whatever must have been a huge success, pulling in big contributions from Republican fat-cats, or persuading undecided voters to vote for Bush because I was against him. That’s the only way to explain this letter I’ve received from George W. Bush, thanking me for my “great help on my campaign in Ohio.”

“Your state played a critical role in this election, and the Vice President and I were fortunate to have your help in campaigning in Ohio.” Bush writes. Gosh, this looks hand-written. He addresses me as “Dear Michael E.” George W. and I are on a first-name-and-middle-initial basis now.

This explains the White House Christmas Card. I feel sick that Bush carried Ohio, and even worse to think I might have played a role. And yet, it’s nice to be recognized as a major player.

There’s only one other explanation I can think of for George W. Bush sending me a letter of thanks. Incompetence. But these are the folks shaping the nation’s defense against international terrorism. They’re the people selecting federal judges. They’re the people shaping national health, educational, environmental and science policies. They’re the people making the key decisions about when and where to send American soldiers into harm’s way. They’re going to reform the tax code and fix Social Security. Surely, such people can maintain an accurate database of the names and addresses of their political supporters.

So let me apologize to my fellow Kerry voters for my role in getting Bush elected. I’m so very, very sorry.

But if, by some strange chance, I should soon be appointed to a federal judgeship, then it wasn’t my fault. (I’ll try hard to do a good job.)