A Few Thoughts On Duluth

Mark Dayton (0.00 / 0)

If Mark Dayton had been speaking as a former U.S. Senator instead of a candidate who was bypassing the convention, I'm sure he'd have been allowed to speak. I have no idea what the actual DFL Convention rules say about it. Is there a rule? If there isn't, then any candidate should be able to speak. If there is a rule, then that rule should be adhered to.

On the other hand, Ole got to do both. So did Susan Gartner until she dropped out. So did Matt.

Gawd, you'd think I was turning into a Libra or something.

Don't cook your own goose.

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by: MsTigerHawk @ Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 02:32:25 AM UTC

Let's Get This Straight - Not Only Wasn't Dayton Allowed To Speak... (0.00 / 0)

...he wasn't even allowed on the floor.

And since you bring up Gaertner, please remember: she was elected Ramsey County Attorney in 1994 and was re-elected in 1998, 2002 and 2006. She, right this very minute, is an elected official - yet she was NOT allowed on the floor, even to visit her fellow Ramsey County folk.

That's one (heck) of a way to treat the first woman to hold that office, eh?

"Those that forget the lessons of history, tend to vote GOP"

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by: TwoPuttTommy @ Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 02:40:24 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yeah but... (0.00 / 0)

I want to know if there is a rule about it or not. If there is no rule that disallows it, then by what authority were Dayton, etc., barred from speaking?

Don't cook your own goose.

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by: MsTigerHawk @ Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 02:52:50 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

It's the floor passes. (0.00 / 0)

They did not have floor passes, thus they were not allowed on the floor. Candidates who submitted their names for endorsement were given two floor passes each, and neither Dayton nor Gaertner were standing for endorsement in the race they already made clear they were taking to a primary.

If Dayton were simply a former federal officeholder, he absolutely would have been given a dispensation to speak. But he was and is a candidate in the biggest race this year. To allow him on the floor as a dispensation to a former official would have been inappropriate. Of course, this worked out just fine for Dayton, who got a nice little piece of free media out of it by walking right over to the press room and getting on Friday night's newscasts.

Gaertner is an iffier case, since by all indications she meant only to visit with her home-district delegates. Even so, convention officials acted appropriately by applying the same standard to both candidates.

If folks are looking for ways to diss the party and the convention's organizers, there are a few relatively minor, yet valid ways to do it. The Dayton/Gaertner thing isn't one of them.

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by: Joe Bodell @ Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 02:59:48 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

"The Dayton/Gaertner thing isn't one of them." (0.00 / 0)

Go with that, Joe - it's your opinion and you're entitled to it.

My opinion?  I'll say it again:  there's something wrong when Ole Savior gets to speak, but Mark Dayton can't even get on the floor.

As far as dissing goes, you should be addressing prepared remarks calling activists "a dime a dozen."

Just because you're not offended, doesn't mean others aren't.

"Those that forget the lessons of history, tend to vote GOP"

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by: TwoPuttTommy @ Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 03:13:54 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I've never known you to be this delicate, Twoputt (0.00 / 0)

I got to know Rick Nelson very well in the last decade because he and I shared so many obscure passions...

...Rick was a political activist.  Now I mention that Rick and I shared some obscure passions and of course political activism isn't an obscure passion - activists are a dime a dozen.

Melendez wasn't dissing anyone, he was eulogizing a friend by saying that political activism isn't an obscure passion, but that Rick Nelson did have such passions in life.

As I said before, there are several ways organizers could and should have improved the convention -- power outlets on the floor, less spotty wifi, electronic ballot counting, less flak allowed from the campaigns which made the thing intractably long...but the things you're talking about just have no "there" there. People were offended when JP Barone gave the delegates the "dad voice" about getting ballots counted quickly; that doesn't automatically make what Barone was saying wrong or out of place.

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by: Joe Bodell @ Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 03:25:03 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Hey, what the (heck) doI know? (0.00 / 0)

Guys like me are a dime a dozen....

"Those that forget the lessons of history, tend to vote GOP"

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by: TwoPuttTommy @ Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 03:35:07 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Tommy, You're Right- (0.00 / 0)

Denying Dayton  a floor pass is typical of the DFL's "honor our endorsement or else" childish temper tantrums.

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by: dyna @ Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 03:46:51 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

J. P. (0.00 / 0)

Barone can do no wrong. That is one cool guy.

Don't cook your own goose.

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by: MsTigerHawk @ Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 22:36:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Lost respect for Dayton (0.00 / 0)

I lost respect for Dayton when he pulled that stunt at the convention. He didn't know only candidates seeking endorsement got floor passes? Yeah, right. Then he calls a press conference, in a space the DFL didn't have to let him use, to play the victim. Then he was allowed to run around the rest of the facility politicking as he pleased.

I know he's donated a lot of money, but I'm starting to think his money has come at too high a price. He seems to think his money means he gets to set his own rules. He seems to have no respect for the grassroots. He wants to disrupt the party, but he'll assume the people who show up for the grunt work will show up as always after being pissed on. Like Brian Melendez said at the start of the convention, don't be a jerk to supporters of other candidates, because you'll need them to win later on.

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by: ericf @ Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 05:02:35 AM UTC

Make it really Democratic! (0.00 / 0)

It's kind of funny in a so called Democratic society that 1350 or so delegates want to control who the rest of the two million plus Democrats in Minnesota get to vote for. Now if there was a huge amount of success with this plan, I can understand how the process should be respected, BUT it's been a miserable failure the past twenty plus years.

Ironically I was a delegate again this year. Funny enough, it is merely a popularity contest in my district, so I win every time. Does that mean that I have the best ideas about who to pick as our candidate? No, that means that everyone knows me and that these candidates will now have to beg for my vote. Coincidentally I like my ass kissed, and so do many other so called undecided delegates. Proof that this process is a popularity contest for us delegates, and a courting of delegates by the candidates what we thoroughly enjoy!

We've not had a Democrat in the Governors office since Rudy and every four years Minnesotans have followed this ridiculous plan to let us delegates decide who will run. Well enough is enough and all Democrats should agree that the party needs a new shake up! Why is it that us few delegates, (in percentage of all DFL voters), get to make the choice? This is not the way it is done in other states. In most states all Democrats that file for election get to run in the Primary election. The state party sometimes merely recommends, but in most cases lets the candidates fight it out and stays out of the race until after the Primary.

I believe everyone that has the guts to file for candidacy should have the ability to run without having their Democratic loyalty questioned. After all, shouldn't all Democrats be in favor of a Democratic ideology?

Just a thought......

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by: AUnionman @ Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 20:56:22 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Dayton? (0.00 / 0)

Ok, let's all sit on him and tickle him until he says U.N.C.L.E.

Don't cook your own goose.

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by: MsTigerHawk @ Tue Apr 27, 2010 at 22:41:55 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Why do you think I'm Dayton? (0.00 / 0)

Look, I have never said that I am a Dayton supporter, I am just merely suggesting what is right for all DFL'rs. We have not been successful these past twenty plus years is what I'm saying. Is it possible that our system of picking a candidate may be flawed and doesn't really express the views and ideas of the Minnesota voter?

Proof is in the pudding as they say. Obviously if you put the math to it either Democrats have slid to the Republican side on the Governors election, or have stayed home and not voted. The DFL endorsed candidate has not been able to energize and motivate the Democratic minded people. Fact is a fact, were not doing something right......

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by: AUnionman @ Wed Apr 28, 2010 at 13:58:23 PM UTC