plugging away

But Zehme kept plugging away, completing the first three-quarters of “Carson the Magnificent” before he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2013.

While other nostalgic food brands have gone wild with gimmicks or leaned into flashy marketing, Spangler just keeps plugging away, making candy that everyone in America has adored for basically their entire lives.

“A group that never wavered, just kept plugging away,” said Stafford.

“He demands a lot from us. And we’re right there. We’re plugging away. And we know we still have a ways to go.”

As Mr. Powell put it, “the notion of a plucky nation plugging away by itself is something we get.”