I try not to dump press releases into posts whole-cloth, nor am I completely innocent of having done so in the past. In any case, this is just too great not to note -- the City of Minneapolis now has a second plug-in hybrid car for official use.
Critics bemoan the fact that these vehicles, which plug into any standard outlet, increase energy consumption in the home or office. That's not necessarily untrue, but the fact remains that the energy they consume when charging their batteries can be produced cleanly through solar, wind, and hydro power a LOT more easily than onboard the vehicle.
Mayor Rybak is also using the right framing here on the economic benefits of having this operation going on right here in Minnesota. Read on.
August 19, 2010 (MINNEAPOLIS) - Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak today picked up the second hybrid vehicle owned by the City of Minneapolis that has been converted to a plug-in. The vehicle, which the mayor will use for his official travel, was converted to a plug-in by a new, Minneapolis-based start-up company, ReGo Electric Conversions.
The vehicle that Mayor Rybak picked up today is the second hybrid that the City has had converted to a plug-in. In 2007, the City converted the first of its hybrid vehicles to a plug-in using a Canadian technology that was not then available in Minnesota . At the time, the cost of the conversion was approximately $11,000. Mayor Rybak used that car as his official vehicle for three years, and has now returned it to the City fleet.
The cost of converting the hybrid that the mayor picked up today, however, was $4,995, or around half of the cost of converting the first hybrid three years ago.
Mayor Rybak said, "ReGo is creating good jobs, adding to the capacity of our region's growing green-manufacturing economy, enhancing our city's overall sustainability and creating good jobs - right here on Nicollet Avenue . I'm very pleased that the City is able to improve our sustainability and support a Minneapolis start-up at the same time."
ReGo's conversion process instantly increases gas mileage up to 85 miles per gallon. It expands the battery pack of existing hybrids while not sacrificing any trunk space, and the new battery pack can be plugged in to any standard outlet. In addition, ReGo conversion kits offer a unique weatherizing package that cuts down on the battery drain traditionally associated with cold Minnesota winters. All packs come with an insulation and battery warming system that helps minimize power loss during the winter.
ReGo's operations are also solar-powered. ReGo is based at Mulroy's Body Shop in south Minneapolis, which recently installed 176 solar panels, making it the largest solar array on a private business in Minnesota . Mulroy's is one of the few green auto-body shops in the United States .
"It's very exciting that this technology is now available right here in Minneapolis ," Mayor Rybak continued. "Taking this step is one simple way that the City - or anyone - can reduce our emissions and help support green jobs, and if we can do it by using a benign power source like solar, so much the better."
We humans seem to be hardwired to better compete than cooperate. And in the last efforts when really we should give up, we trash all of our social connections. Even in a winning campaign, we walk away with huge gaping emotional wounds. OK, we are competitive creatures. However, I would like to suggest that we start a little healing here. Let's all say something nice about a campaign we did not vote/support, especially in the governor's race. Considering that you all know how mean I can be, I will start....
The DFL's several gubernatorial campaigns are well past the "Overdrive" stage right now. With just five days to go before delegates meet in Duluth to endorse one of them.
Big questions heading into Saturday morning (that's right kids, you'll need to be up early to follow along on the liveblog here on MPP :)):
First-ballot lead(s). If Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak leads on the first ballot in any way, it's going to be over pretty quickly. If he trails in the overall count but is close enough to argue that House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher's lead is comprised only of a few superdelegates, things get interesting. If MAK builds on her lead among those automatic delegates and increases her margin among pledged delegates, things remain interesting in the second tier, but that's where Team MAK needs to be -- getting the lead early and keeping it when lower-tier candidates drop.
Third place matters. It has been a very long time since a candidate who didn't lead on the first ballot managed to get endorsed. Nevertheless, in a field like this a strong third place on the first ballot will matter. If it's State Sen. John Marty (and running mate Patricia Torres Ray) then his supporters have an argument to stick together and for him to keep pushing ahead. If it's State Rep. Paul Thissen, he can hit up his supporters among the Renew.MN bloc (more than 150 strong, if truth be told) to bring them into his column or at least stop them from shifting to either Rybak or Kelliher.
Thissen's campaign has said they are doing quite well on second-choice IDs, so if they can hold third place they can soak up some of those votes and perhaps make it a true three-way race by the third ballot. They will need to do so at a pretty fast clip if they are to compete with Rybak and Kelliher, however.
Entenza's supporters? Matt Entenza is headed to the August primary, this is for sure. However, he's also going to overperform his pledged numbers by a pretty significant margin -- his campaign spent plenty of time during the local conventions squeezing supporters through uncommitted subcaucuses, so we don't have a great bead on just how many there are. If he gets 60 or so votes on the first ballot, I won't be surprised; it won't be enough for him to continue on in the endorsement fight, but it could be enough to swing the endorsement to a candidate his campaign views as easier to beat in the primary (see Hatch v. Marty, 1994).
I'll have some more thoughts on where I stand as a delegate around tomorrow-ish...I spoke with Paul Thissen on the phone a couple of nights ago, attended a MAK meet-and-greet last night, and hope to see Rybak on Wednesday evening.
Howard Dean has done many things. Implemented near universal public healthcare in Vermont, brought thousands of new people into the political process during his presidential campaign and led the DNC's 50 State Strategy that helped Democrats take back Congress and the White House. And recently he came out in support in R.T. Rybak for Governor of Minnesota.
And in this critical final days before the DFL Convention Dr. Dean came to Minnesota to rally the grassroots for Rybak. Why? As Dean said "Everyone I talks to says that R.T. Rybak is the Democrat who can win." As one of the most successful DNC Chairs in history, he should know.
A packed crowd crammed into Rybak's campaign HQ, including a fair number of undecided delegates.
When R.T. took the stage he talked about his history organizing for Dean in 2003 and how we need to work as hard as possible over the next week to win this endorsement by making as many friends as we can and spreading the message of this grassroots campaign and why we support R.T. He also reminded everybody that ultimately we are all DFLers and we need to remember that even as things get intense in Duluth. Then he introduced Dean.
Dean talked about his experiences as Governor and DNC Chair and why he believed R.T. was the candidate who could win and most importantly the candidate who has the skills to govern effectively as a progressive Democrat. He talked about how R.T. is part of a new breed of politicians like Rep. Tom Perriello of Virgina who practice conviction politics: Standing up proudly for progressive values and asking everybody for their vote without running away from our values.
It was an inspiring call to action at a critical time for this campaign. We are in the final stretch. As Dean said, we could find out who is going to be Minnesota's next governor in a week. And we need that to be R.T. Rybak. There is still time to get involved.
We only have a short time left and we need every volunteer we can get to step up and make their voice heard. The only way R.T. wins is if we hit the streets and tell our stories to delegates and tell them why we are for R.T. Sign up here and the campaign will get in touch. Lots is going on in the final day. Get involved, don't regret it. You'll meet some amazing people, maybe even me!
And this grassroots operation isn't free. To go up against the better funded opponents R.T. needs all the grassroots small donors he can get. Doesn't matter if you can only spare $5 or if you can give $50. Do what you can. Donate.
The time is running out. Don't look back and wish you did something. Do something. Leave it all on the road and let's win this thing.
R.T. Rybak picked up another superdelegate in the form of Senator Leroy Stumpf of Plummer.
Stumpf is notable because he's the second superdelegate who had previously endorsed Tom Bakk's gubernatorial bid -- Yvonne Prettner Solon also recently endorsed Rybak after Bakk dropped out of the race a few weeks ago.
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman endorsed R.T. Rybak's gubernatorial bid today, which provides Rybak with a big boost in terms of surrogate support, perhaps a fundraising list or two, more media firepower, but doesn't actually provide another solid vote next week in Duluth.
Whether in response or not, Margaret Anderson Kelliher's campaign announced a similar press conference tomorrow at 2 PM. The location and timing both seem significant: Minneapolis City Hall on a Friday. Putting the event inside Rybak's place of employment seems pointed, and a press event on a Friday is usually more focused on the inside baseball games than on gaining lots of free media.
Of course, inside baseball games are one of the many reasons we in the political blogosphere are here in the first place.
It'll be interesting to see who this new endorsement is. Team MAK's release indicates that it's a "key" endorsement, so it should be someone good.
Last Thursday, gubernatorial candidate R.T. Rybak spoke at the Drinking Liberally event at the 331 Club. The video for Part 1 can be found here. Part 2 of the video is below and remember to go to RTRybak.com to support the campaign!
Over the long Easter weekend, gubernatorial candidate R.T. Rybak spoke at the Drinking Liberally event at the 331 Club and at First Ave to celebrate its 40th anniversary. Check out the videos below and visit rtrybak.com for more information and to volunteer for the campaign!
The campaign that builds excitement is going to win. I think MAK has the best technical direction. MAK people have picked up on entering many subcaucuses to build a perception of huge support. (Expect 50 subcaucuses at conventions this weekend, as other campaigns follow suit.) I think Rybak has the best spirit and political theater. I saw that Ryback group doing the wave yesterday in subcaucuses. Rybak supporters left energized and happy.
Approximately 300 more DFL state convention delegates were elected this weekend -- so where does the gubernatorial endorsement race stand?
First, standard caveats apply: 970 delegates have been elected so far, and we have conventions that add up to 913. Of those 913, we have results covering 843.5 -- this means our results are not complete. That being said, they are complete enough to get a good idea of where things stand -- just not an exact one.
With that said, on to the totals:
Gubernatorial pledged delegates Uncommitted: 369
R.T. Rybak: 143.5
MAK: 137.5
Paul Thissen: 58.5
John Marty: 49
Tom Rukavina: 41
Matt Entenza: 25
Tom Bakk: 20
The full spreadsheet is posted below. Highlights from the weekend:
R.T Rybak obviously had a very solid weekend, going from about three delegates down to six delegates up in our count. The spreadsheet bears this out -- although Margaret Anderson Kelliher kept up her solid gains and is still comfortably in the overall lead due to superdelegate endorsements, Rybak had a very good day in the west metro suburbs and in Olmstead County, where he appears to have picked up 8 (!) delegates.
Nevertheless, MAK is still in the lead overall, and will likely lead on the first ballot in April. If you factor in the superdelegate endorsements we already know of, and accept Team MAK's claims that fifty more are waiting in the wings, she already has about 17% of the first ballot racked up. Figure in at least a strong portion of the uncommitted delegates to date, and she's approaching 30% already, which will be tough for anyone to beat.
John Marty had a great weekend too, making significant gains in pledged delegates in places like Rice and Itasca counties. He stopped by SD42 briefly during subcaucusing, and we chatted for a minute, during which I expressed my sincere appreciation for his engagement with the MPP community.
Paul Thissen stalled out a little bit in the suburban conventions. His wonderful wife Karen spoke on his behalf at several events on Saturday, but there's a pretty big gap in his section of the spreadsheet in the recent conventions. He'll have support at the convention, but right now he's closer to the second tier than he is to the first.
Props to the members of the Bakk/Choi subcaucus. Certain nomination for Best Subcaucus Name of 2010.
Renew.mn is going to be a player one way or the other. Do they endorse MAK after the first ballot and nip the floor fight in the bud? Do they move toward R.T. Rybak or Paul Thissen and oppose the probable first-ballot leader? Only the ReNew.MN delegates know...and there are quite a few of them.
I'll have an update on the three competitive congressional endorsement races either later today or tomorrow morning. Here's the full spreadsheet -- as always, if you see discrepancies or districts where we're missing delegate totals, help us complete the puzzle. This little project has only gotten to where it is because of the efforts of the entire MPP community, and that's how it will continue to be right through the DFL state convention.
As promised, we've gotten what appear to be accurate reports from Sunday's conventions, and also knocked a couple of previous conventions off the board (Blue Earth CU, Morrison CU, Lac Qui Parle CU). We've also corrected a 1-delegate discrepancy from SD60, and thanks are due to the eagle-eyed Marty supporter who caught it.
The updated totals:
Candidate
Pledged Delegates
Uncommitted
195
Margaret Anderson Kelliher
77.5
R.T. Rybak
72
Paul Thissen
47
Tom Rukavina
28
John Marty
25
Tom Bakk
13.5
Matt Entenza
4
As noted previously, Uncommitted is winning, although there are definitely "hidden" delegates (those actually supporting one candidate or another) in that big total. As also previously noted, Paul Thissen's total here is a bit inflated due to several counties where his are the only results so far -- although Morrison was one of those until we completed it last night.
Updated grid is below. We're now at 86% coverage -- hopefully we can cover about ten of the remaining fourteen percent by the next round of conventions this weekend.
Wild Weekend was...well, wild. More than 500 of 1200 eventual delegates have now been selected -- and we're tracking 77% (415) of those delegates right here.
Of those 415 we now have tracked, here are the totals:
Candidate
Pledged Delegates
Uncommitted
176
Margaret Anderson Kelliher
71.5
R.T. Rybak
65.5
Paul Thissen
43.5
Tom Rukavina
26
John Marty
22
Tom Bakk
7.5
Matt Entenza
2
A few general notes about these totals:
In the screenshot below, you'll see where the discrepancies are -- we did extremely well this weekend tracking the Senate District conventions, but we're still missing totals from several County Unit conventions -- if you were at one or know someone who was and can get us accurate totals, let us know
I know for a fact we're missing a few Entenza delegates, but I simply have not been able to get first-hand reports from those conventions (Nobles County, in particular). So his totals are a tad low.
Similarly, because the reports I got from several of last weekend's conventions were from a Thissen supporter (whom I have no reason to believe isn't being accurate with Thissen's totals), his strong third-place showing right now is likely a bit inflated, as we're missing the rest of the delegates from those conventions. HOWEVER, it is clear that Thissen is doing quite well in rural delegate elections given his metro base (witness his strong performance in his home district of SD63).
The other item of note now that we have considerable totals under our belts is the ReNew.mn factor. Technically, the basic "Uncommitted/Renew.mn" subcaucus is uncommitted in the gubernatorial race. In the purest sense that's true; in reality those delegates (at least 24 of them so far) are probably only going to vote for Rybak, Paul Thissen, or MAK -- in that order -- when push comes to shove in Duluth. Also witness that the only named subcaucuses that include ReNew.mn's name are for those three candidates.
It's not against any rules, but we've heard that a few people here and there have been a bit miffed at the organization calling its delegates "uncommitted." On the other hand, they're an advocacy group, and they're doing a good job of pushing their values through the endorsement process. YMMV, as it's said.
A future post will focus on the congressional campaign breakouts -- some interesting items in there as well.
Here's that full spreadsheet -- discrepancies are color-coded at the bottom. A big thanks to the MPP community for helping make this happen -- we're all looking forward to next week's conventions for more of the same!
What has happened to the Democratic Party of Paul Wellstone? Where have all of the truly bold and visionary progressives gone? Are they hiding under a rock or does the Party Machine not let their voices be heard via the corporate media lest they piss off the corporate sponsors of the Democratic Party? Yes, that is correct, I said Corporate Sponsors of the Democratic Party. After reading the following article, http://www.salon.com/news/opin... I must say it only reinforces the beliefs I have had for the last 12 months.
The Democrats don't care about their base unless it is 9 months before the next election. Then, on cue, they start up with the populist and "working families" rhetoric. After the election is over and they have won, it is right back to "business as usual". They slide up to the lobbyists and continue to do the work of Big Business all the while giving us patronizing quips, gentle pats on the head, and nice, warm fuzzies.
Take, for example, the recent Al Franken rally in Minneapolis. The room was packed and people were cheering for a bill that FORCES PEOPLE TO BUY A PRODUCT THAT IS SO BAD, THE GOVERNMENT HAS TO FORCE PEOPLE TO BUY IT. Unfortunately, it is sadly ironic and masochistic. I am sure there were quite a few people who were questioning the bill, as am I, but you could tell the MoveOn.org, SEIU, HealthCareForAmericaNOW, TakeActionMN, and OFA people were all boldly and vigorously cheering for not only Al Franken but also the bill that the President and Congress will eventually pass.
How is that possible? Why have we, the people of the Democratic Party, become so gullible and misinformed that we are willing to become slaves to the medical insurance industry. If you question that statement, I ask you; what other option is there in the president's plan? How else do I obtain medical insurance except through a private medical insurance company?
I truly believe that if President Bush was offering this very plan the Democratic faithful would be up in arms and frothing at the mouth. However, since someone from our party is in power and is offering the plan, we sit back quietly and say while nodding our head, they must know better.
Bullshit! They don't know better because the facts show that they have sold us out for the campaign contributions by the medical insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the medical device industry, and almost every other sector of health care. I can't believe I just said that. The Democratic Party has sold out the working people for Big Business. Disgusting and pathetic!
Therefore, I forewarn you with great respect and remorse before this legislation becomes law. KILL THE HEALTHCARE REFORM BILL!! KILL THE BILL!! Otherwise, the Democratic Party will no longer be the party of the People. Instead, they will join with the Republicans and be the party for the Power.
I'll update the exact numbers as soon as I make sure I have all the gubernatorial/congressional breakouts correct, as well as ensuring that reNew.MN's delegate election efforts have been correctly accounted for (candidate/reNew.MN vs. straight-up reNew.MN subcaucuses, etc).
These totals are approximate...
Uncommitted: 43+
Rybak: 20
MAK: 16
Marty: 5
Thissen: 4
Rukavina: 4
Bakk: 1
Expect a couple more delegates to be added to these totals once I get additional numbers. But the bottom line in the early conventions seems clear: it's becoming a two-horse race pretty quickly among committed delegates, with Rybak and Margaret Anderson Kelliher running about even. MAK's campaign has laid claim to several uncommitted delegates, as has Rybak's, but MAK also has a big advantage in superdelegate support.
One curious feature of the early conventions has been Rybak's plus performance in suburban and rural areas -- more on that along with exact numbers this evening.
This past Friday, Almanac featured the two top finishers in last week's DFL preference ballot, R.T. Rybak and Margaret Anderson Kelliher. During that show, Rybak and Kelliher did little to encourage any other candidates into the top tier -- a heads-up race sounds like it's just fine with both candidates.
Contrasts were on display during Friday's Almanac, and so are parallels to the 2008 Democratic presidential contest. Those parallels go way beyond the candidates' genders.
No, Rybak-as-Obama and MAK-as-Clinton isn't just a matter of gubernatorial candidates sharing their presidential doppelgangers' chromosomal patterns. It goes to their approaches on the stump and their apparent strategies for winning the party's endorsement in April.
