( - promoted by The Big E)
"Made in Minnesota moderate" DFLer Maureen Reed says she'll bring Democrats, Republicans and independents together to topple U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann and that may be true, but she probably won't be doing it with the backing of the Independence Party -- a notion she had floated earlier in her campaign.
At its state convention today in Brooklyn Park, the IP voted to do away with cross-endorsements after a number of activists expressed disappointment over the way things played out in 2008 with Elwyn Tinklenberg, who won the IP endorsement a couple months after earning the DFL's backing in the 6th Congressional District.
"I'd much rather have an Independence Party candidate who will work with me rather than a Democrat who won't," Stephen Williams, the IP's endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate, said last summer. Today his message was along the lines of "I told you so," as he noted the next day's media coverage was all about Tinklenberg getting the cross-endorsement rather than Williams' own victory.
(Trivia: Williams lost the IP primary last September to former U.S. Sen. Dean Barkley. Extra credit to those who remember I worked for the senator.)
Speaking of the 6th District, Bob Anderson was at North View Junior High School this morning basking in the glow of the 40,643 votes he received last time around as the IP's non-endorsed candidate. As you may remember, Anderson lost the IP endorsement to Tinklenberg, but claimed the party's ballot line anyway because state law allows candidates to file under one party only and Tinklenberg was officially the DFL's candidate. Despite an under-the-radar campaign, Anderson claimed 10 percent of the vote while Bachmann eeked out a three-point win over Tinklenberg.
I didn't get a chance to speak with Anderson, but I heard him mention to several people that he'll have a vast "middle" to shoot for against ultra-conservative Republican Bachmann and liberal DFL State Sen. Tarryl Clark. Apparently Anderson isn't the only one writing off Reed's long-shot effort.
If I was advising Reed (and I'm not), I'd say "take your money and file as an IP candidate." Clark's going to win the endorsement on the first ballot and should cruise in the primary, too. But with some money in the bank, Reed, who ran for lieutenant governor on the IP ticket three years ago, could present a ton of problems for Clark and possibly Bachmann as a third-party candidate in the topsy-turvy 6th District. |
