| Former Congressman Rick Nolan of Crosby emerged as the big winner in the 8th District DFL straw poll Tuesday evening, winning more votes than the combined total of the other candidates in the race, former city councilor Jeff Anderson of Duluth and former State Senator Tarryl Clark of St. Cloud.
According to unofficial totals* obtained from the 8th District DFL late Wednesday evening, Nolan won 1546 votes, while Anderson garnered just 1,035 votes and Clark trailed significantly behind the others with a mere 414 votes. It bodes well for Nolan that he would still hold a commanding lead if the 288 votes tallied in the 'undecided' category were combined with those of any other candidate vying for the endorsement.
Nolan is the only candidate who has said he will abide by the DFL endorsement, which he described as "the first step in our campaign to take back the Fighting 8th." While other candidates have dismissed the importance of the endorsement, the former State Representative and Congressman has long insisted the endorsement system is important because it enables people of modest means to run for public office, noting that primaries consume a tremendous amount of both time and money and diminish a candidate's chances of unseating an incumbent like Tea Party Chip Cravaack (R-MN/NH).
Congressman Nolan is not resting on his decisive victory in the DFL straw poll, however. In a statement released Wednesday, he emphasized the need for unity from across the 8th district, saying his campaign would continue to build their broad base of support, remaining focused on defeating Cravaack and his right wing extremist friends:
As DFL'ers, we're uniting on the issues. We are determined to end wars of choice, establish universal single payer health care, protect Medicare and Social Security, re-invest in infrastructure and rebuild our economy to generate the good paying jobs we need in northern Minnesota and across the country.
For those things to happen, we now need to unite behind one Congressional candidate to defeat Chip Cravaack and take back the 8th for progressive values. Moving forward, I am determined to unite our party and marshal the resources we're going to need to defeat Mr. Cravaack and make working families, seniors, students, small businesses and all of us in the 99 percent matter again in Washington.
Cuyuna Range native Rick Nolan has clearly solidified his position as the frontrunner for the DFL endorsement by this very decisive victory among party faithful.
The precinct caucuses represent the first step towards the 8th district endorsing convention in May. As we go forward, let's hope Anderson, Clark and Nolan run positive campaigns that unite the district rather than divide it so we can emerge from the convention as a party unified against Chip Cravaack and his right wing extremist agenda. Fighting amongst ourselves would serve only to benefit the Tea Party incumbent and his union busting right wing extremist friends who are determined to destroy the middle class.
*A few precincts are still out, and the party is in the process of verifying the results. |
