Who will Minnesota's next governor be? We'll assume and hope that it will be a DFLer. There are a lot of candidates. Which one should we vote for? How do voters choose?
Many voters choose a name on the ballot at random. We've all done this at some point over the years, especially when we see a list of judges or county attorneys on the ballot. Most people have no idea who these candidates are. Some voters choose a name that sounds good to them or is vaguely familiar. Others may choose by gender. Some will choose a female just for the sake of having more females in office.
Others choose a name that they recognize. The more recognizable the candidate's name is, the better the chances of getting elected. In this year's gubernatorial race, the two top candidates for name recognition, at least so far, are Mark Dayton and R. T. Rybak.
Some voters actually research the candidates' stand on various issues. Others abide by the party's endorsement or by the endorsement of their union or other organization. Others will vote for their legislator who happens to be running for governor.
Many others vote on personalities. Jesse Ventura had a personality that was unforgettable. Skip Humphrey didn't. Norm Coleman might have had but his mudslinging alienated voters.
Finally, voters vote for a candidate they resonate with. They want a candidate they have something in common with. If they think a particular candidate is nothing at all like them, they probably won't vote for that person.
So ... many of us went to our DFL caucus last night. Many of because we want a DFLer to be our next Governor. So what? Well there are many implications going forward in the Minnesota Governor's race (MN-GOV), mainly for the RT Rybak and Margaret Anderson-Kelliher campaigns -- the race is wide open for them to win or lose. All campaigns will be working hard to get some delegates elected from the upcoming Senate District conventions.
Will John Marty, Paul Thissen and Tom Rukavina be able to get enough delegates together to get the 7-9% that their straw poll results indicate they might pull?
Obviously, the Rybak and MAK campaigns will more than likely go into the state conventions with 20% to maybe even 25% of the delegates committed to them. But what about the rest?
Any delegates Tom Bakk, Matt Entenza, Susan Gaertner and Steve Kelley elect will have choices after their candidates are dropped on the first ballot.
This event was at Macalester College tonight. It was sponsored by TLC (Transit for Liveable Communities), as well as by MPTA, Isaiah, Sierra Club, MPIRG, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Fresh Energy, Alliance for Metropolitan Stability and 1000 Friends of Minnesota.
This forum had the highest energy level of any event that I have been to yet. Everyone was there. Well, Matt Entenza wasn't there, or Tom Bakk, or Steve Kelley, or Paul Thissen, or even Ole. It was high energy without them, though. I missed Thissen because he always has something new and refreshing to say and because he always makes sure to say hi to me, not for Brownie points, but because he's interested in what I have to say. I hear he's really, really smart...
This forum was a bit different than the others I've been attending because there were several Independent Party candidates. Rob Hahn, Tom Horner and John Uldrich all took part. On the Republican side, there was Leslie Davis. Davis brought copies of his book to give away. He autographed a copy for me. He said he won't forget my name. Honey, none of the candidates will forget my name. I told him I wrote a book, too. He said he would read it. I told him it's a romance novel. He said he'd read it anyway. I wonder if Dayton read his copy yet? I forced it on him for a Christmas present. With an inscription in the front that said, "because all guys ought to read at least one or two romance novels in their life." Right, ladies? Ok, now I sense Tom Rukavina rushing out to buy one.
I felt good tonight at this forum. I felt really crappy all day at work. With hepatitis C there are flareups. The viral load fluctuates. When it flares up, the immune system kicks in along with the flu-like symptoms that accompany it. There was so much energy in the room tonight, though, that I felt great. Gosh, I think I'll quit my job and join somebody's campaign. I haven't felt this energized since my hippie days on the West Bank when I was protesting the Viet Nam War. Or when I was a member of the Twin City Federal Drum & Bugle Corps/Color Guard. We took first place in all the parades for our Headchopper routine. We had a guy who arranged all the Henry Mancini songs to fit our special parade march step. Pink Panther, Peter Gunn, Baby Elephant Walk. Sigh. What great memories.
This event was chaired by Dan Hoxworth. The moderator was Steve Berg. Orrie was there, of course, and the table next to Rukavina's was Dayton's. Brian (not Klaas) was staffing it tonight. What an enjoyable young man, full of energy and enthusiasm and good cheer. There were friends from reNEW Minnesota and TakeAction Minnesota, as well. And I can't forget to mention Craig Stellmacher from The Uptake. I just love him even if he does talk your ear off.
First, each candidate was given time to give a brief introduction. Mark Dayton was the only one who stood up. He'd make such a great Toastmaster. He's already got the techniques down. The other candidates remained seated. They didn't say anything I haven't heard before or won't hear again. The introduction formality was mostly for first-time forum attendees.
After that we got right into the questions and answers. I'll state the questions one at a time and then give each candidate's response.
On the evening of January 19, reNEW Minnesota had its third and last set of candidate interviews. This one included Susan Gaertner, Tom Rukavina and R. T. Rybak.
You know the routine. I'll take each candidate separately, state the questions they were asked, paraphrase their answers, and then give my take on it. Each candidate was asked a set of six identical questions and two questions unique to each candidate. Here we go:
Last night I attended a gubernatorial candidate forum at the Fridley Community Center. It was hosted by SD50 and SD51. Here's what happened:
After work on Thursday evening I drove to Fridley for the SD50/51 gubernatorial candidate forum. It was held at the Fridley Community Center. I didn't go home first since the roads were very slick and greasy, so of course I arrived an hour and a half early. That was okay; I started a conversation with an elderly woman who was the evening monitor for the center. We had a great discussion about how Pawlenty has ruined Minnesota and what might be done about it. Of course we both agreed that the only solution is to elect a DFL governor. She noticed my by-now-famous campaign button and asked where she could get one. I just happened to have an extra one...
The first order of business at the forum was mingling. I saw some people I've met at other events. It was great to see them again. I also met some new people, such as John Choi, who is a candidate for Ramsey County Attorney, and Jeanna Sather. These are two very nice people. I'll have to learn more about John Choi and what his goals are for the Ramsey County Attorney position.
It was fantastic to see so many people come up and talk to me. I was surprised to hear how many are reading my blog. Three candidates greeted me warmly. They were John Marty, Paul Thissen and Steve Kelley. It's always good to be nice to political bloggers.
The only other two gubernatorial candidates who were there this evening were Susan Gaertner and Margaret Anderson Kelliher. Tom Bakk was supposed to be there but unfortunately he got stuck in southern Minnesota because the highways were closed due to the weather. The remaining candidates had been invited but they all had previous engagements. Quite a few people told me that they were disappointed that Mark Dayton couldn't make it. Apparently he had a fund raiser to attend that he had already committed to. "Rats!" exclaimed one woman. "That makes this a rather constricting experience."
I thought it was easier to manage a smaller forum. The candidates seemed more comfortable when there weren't so many of them. It was probably easier for the audience to keep them straight, too.
There were quite a few people there considering how slippery the roads were. Then the frolics began. Each candidate was given a couple of minutes to introduce themselves. After that they were given a question which each answered. Here are the highlights.
Susan Gaertner has just announced that she will run in the primary whether she wins the DFL endorsement or not. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I don't think she has a chance of winning. I think she's wasting her time and money. Where is she getting that kind of money, anyway? On the other hand, I like her. Even so, would she make the kind of governor Minnesota needs and wants? I doubt it. Why did she prosecute those who were merely protesting at the Republican National Convention? Many, many years ago I protested the Viet Nam War. Would she have prosecuted me? Would she have prosecuted the protesters at Kent State? Does she really think that DFL voters will elect her? I thought she was a lot smarter than that.
What will that mean for the other candidates? We currently have four DFL gubernatorial candiates who say they won't abide by the endorsement. Dayton, Entenza, Kelley and now Gaertner. The only one who has a chance at winning the primary out of these four is Dayton. His other contender, though, will be whoever gets the DFL endorsement. I predict that will either be Kelliher, Thissen or Rybak. Of all these candidates, the race would be closest between Rybak, Thissen and Dayton. And what a close race that will be.
If Gaertner, Entenza and Kelley want to waste their money, I guess that's up to them. However, I would suggest that they take that money and put it toward paying off Minnesota's deficit. The people of Minnesota would be forever grateful.
Susan Gaertner announced today that she'll appear in the DFL gubernatorial primary later this year.
"To be honest, I think my original plan to rely solely on the endorsement and convention process was too politically limiting. I firmly believe that an effort to expand our reach to a much larger universe of Minnesotans is the right direction-especially since some in the field have been in that mode all along."
Gaertner, who has been campaigning in the close quarters of DFL activists for over two years, said her core supporters have been urging her to consider a primary run and have convinced her that someone of her political profile-an outsider with a reputation as a straight-shooting moderate-can do well in the larger primary universe.
"This doesn't mean that I have given up on anyone in the DFL. Like other candidates who have stated their intention to run in a primary, I respect the party process and will continue to work to gain the support of delegates to the DFL convention. I will be working hard, however, to gain the support of the many loyal DFL voters who don't always get engaged in the caucus and convention process," Gaertner said.
It's a newsmaker in the race, to be sure, but when most candidates are going to be announcing fundraising totals, it doesn't quite fit -- does this mean that Team Gaertner raised a bunch of money but doesn't think they can get the endorsement, or they didn't raise much in '09 and think they need more time to get their message out?
In either case, this makes at least three, possibly as many as many as four or five candidates who are fairly sure to run in the primary. Let the deal-making begin!
Update: Tom Scheck of MPR just tweeted that Steve Kelley now *will* abide by the endorsement -- this was announced in early December in a letter to the DFL State Central Committee. Interesting back-room deals could be in the cards.
This post is to point something out to DFL voters. As you know, we have not had a DFL governor for twenty years. That's an entire generation. Young people don't know what it's like to have a DFL governor. We have got to change that in this November's election. How can we do that? By making sure we have a candidate who is electable. It's not just the DFL voters who will determine the final winner. It's also all the Minnesota voters who don't vote by party affiliation. They will vote for who they think will make the best governor. Some people will, as always, vote for the person whose name they recognize. Others vote for very strange reasons. One person told me they would never vote for anyone named Steve because that was her ex-husbands name. Crazy? Well sure. And we can't do anything about that kind of voting mentality. On the other hand, we can make sure that the candidate with the greatest liklihood of getting elected gets the DFL endorsement. We have to put aside thoughts of who we personally like best. We have to put aside ideas that the candidates may have that are just not going to bring in the independent voters. Also, we have to look at past electability. There are several candidates who have run for governor and lost. More than once. They have a history of not being electable.
Let's take a look at all the DFL candidates and see just how electable they might be. I won't include Ole Savior for obvious reasons.
I am automatically a state delegate to the DFL state convention. Add in my persuasive abilities and personal volunteer work, to make me, a good endorsement for candidates. That means many personal contacts. So I declared myself "neutral" in the governor's race. I plan on using my vote for fairness and to unite DFLers on later votes. So most campaigns are wisely focussing effort elsewhere than on me!
However, Tom Rukavina spent the day DOORKNOCKING in St. Paul. Tom says that he plans to get 20 votes out of St Paul. So most of you, readers out there, are in Minnesota. So contact Tom Rukavina for your own personal doorknock. I warn you, that you might actually get a knock on your door and be charmed by him.
The endorsement of Stonewall is always important. Matt Entenza just announced that endorsement.
Stonewall DFL Endorses Entenza
ST. PAUL, Minn. - In the first DFL caucus endorsement of the 2010 gubernatorial campaign, Matt Entenza has been endorsed by the Stonewall DFL, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, friends and allies caucus of the DFL Party of Minnesota.
Entenza has a long history of advocating for equal rights for all Minnesotans. Believing it's wrong for the government to allow some adults full rights as citizens and deny others those same rights, he co-authored the first Minnesota bill for marriage equality. He opposed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. He supported domestic partner benefits for state employees and authored legislation to increase the penalties faced by those convicted of crimes based on sexual orientation.
Entenza has been endorsed by the Stonewall Caucus in every campaign he has run since 1994.
Earlier this year, in conjunction with the Twin Cities Pride festival, Entenza released a video, "Pride," which can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
"Matt Entenza's position on the issues important to our members is as simple as it is strong: equality for all Minnesotans - period," said Del Jenkins, chair of Stonewall DFL. "It is easy for us to support someone we truly believe will make the best governor of Minnesota."
Said Entenza: "I am so proud to have earned the endorsement of Stonewall DFL. I am committed to running a campaign and having an administration that reflects the rich diversity of our state. Stonewall DFL stands strong for equal rights - as I always have and always will. They will be an invaluable partner in making Minnesota work again for all Minnesotans."
Stonewall DFL, with more than 4,000 members, is a political organization that works for a safe and equitable Minnesota by working to elect GLBT and allied Democrats to office in Minnesota and within the DFL. Stonewall offers advice to candidates and campaigns about GLBT outreach and offers endorsements for local, state and federal DFL candidates. By its most recent assessment, it has a 92 percent success rate for endorsed candidates.
As a prelude to this story, I just want to see how much I admire the DFL candidates that we have out there and how much they put out in running for office. Just this week, I know that one candidate was at the hospital to provide moral support in the middle of the previous night before a big announcement. One cannot thank the candidates or their families enough for their work.
The world of political persuasion now changes almost as fast as fashion trends. I have noticed that many candidates seem to be following political trends that are very old. And even worse, that candidates are not following blogs or trends themselves, relying on staff to tell them changes. So this article is for the few who are reading and paying attention.
Several major changes in the political news have caused a shift to more distrust in politics and in government, even led by Democrats. The banks had 100% help while doing very little to refinance ordinary people. The number of troops in Afghanistan is increasing by 30,000. Meaningful healthcare reform, especially a robust public option, failed! That means that same words that worked just weeks ago, now produce scowls in the audience.
This means that people are asking why should trust any politican anymore? Is there any parts of government that still represent people instead of major corporations?
Even in Minnesota candidate screenings for governor last Saturday, these changes became even clearer.
Any candidate who just describes a problem, who just listens, who just promises to work hard and who does NOT commit to a specific plan of action is obviously not really for the people on the issue. Saying the words, "universal health care" without single-payer or medicare-for-all implies the continued support of health insurance profits while allowing health care companies to actually deny even more healthcare. Actually universal required health INSURANCE would be catastrophic for actually getting the health care, for then insurance companies could deny any thing expensive.
Candidates who have stood for something when it was not popular have way more credibility that someone who suddenly noticed the changing poll numbers.
Candidates, who actually had to deal with real government, making mistakes and then fixing them, are way more credible than candidates who can pretend that they never would have made a mistake because they did nothing, not even speak up. In the same way, candidates who do not raise money nor speak beyond their home base, really are not credible candidates.
It is obvious that at least in the governor's race, activists want more than a nicely marketed political package!
In my crystal ball, this is how I could see a winning strategy play out:
One of the best ways to gain delegates would be motivate new precinct voters to caucus, generating the most delegates on precinct caucus night. Effectively organizing in typical low turnout precincts where every person becomes a delegate could make the difference. I would give Margaret Anderson-Kelliher's campaign manager, Jamie Tincher odds as being the best manager to organize this.
Being everyone's second best choice would definitely win. DFLers are not likely to be delivered as a block by the first choice candidate, so after the precinct caucuses, the calling for undecided's first choice and other people's second choice should get very interesting.
The regular precinct caucus attendees are waiting to be impressed. So what could impress these jaded DFLers?
A huge fundraising end-of-the-year number
A television ad, even just released on Youtube that had the force of a Ventura "thinker" ad
Barack Obama style grassroots support
Persuading a Wind Turbine industry to announce a new plant here
I am not seeing a primary challenge as a smart move. I think Democrats are worried about losing the general race, so there would be a huge backlash to "risking" the general election.
As for myself, I am just super impressed. So I will stay neutral, using my vote to encourage people to play well together. I want DFLers to come out of the convention happy!
People shared their reactions to the DFL Minnesota debate for candidates for governor, held on November 24, 2009 at Hopkins.
Since there are 11 candidates, the format rotated who was on stage so that only three were on stage, allowing people to see fast responses from other candidates. Not all candidates answered all questions. So rather than focussing on content, this format showcased ability to speak and to respond. This format was also more exciting to watch.
Normally at this time during a campaign, there would be polarization. This year is unique in that generally the audience is seeing all of the candidates positively, even when a person has already picked a personal first choice.
This debate was hosted by the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (MN DFL) party 3rd Congressional District (CD3) and 5th Congressional District (CD5). KSTP-TV's Chief Political Reporter, Tom Hauser, moderated DFL Candidates Tom Bakk, Mark Dayton, Matt Entenza, Susan Gaertner, Steve Kelley, Margaret Anderson-Kelliher, John Marty, Tom Rukavina, R.T. Rybak, Ole Savior and Paul Thissen participated.
The Uptake recording of the debate can be seen below the fold.
Forums and debates with 9 candidates are always difficult. Too few questions and I usually forget the question by the time the last candidates are answering.
But the Governor's debate at the Netroots Nation had nine of the ten candidates present. Tom Bakk didn't show. We'll get the closing statement up as their own post at some point.
I'll post some more after I get something to eat. In the meantime ...
MINNEAPOLIS (MPP) -- As some of you may know, last night on my Web site I wrote a pretty snarky post about Margaret Anderson Kelliher and her attacks against Matt Entenza along with some issues about the supporter list she released yesterday. My intent was to point out that we as Democrats do not need to play dirty politics, and that as long as I'm able to write about such things, I'm going to call people out about them. At the core of my irritation with such attacks is a sense of understanding that these types of attacks do little to advance our party or our principles. In fact, they hurt them. I'm all in favor of attacking Republicans with every thing we've got, but we shouldn't be behaving this way towards each other.
Now since this posting went up, I've received information about other discrepancies about Speaker Kelliher's supporter list, and I've been able to verify some of them, while some of my verification efforts are still pending.
However, in particular, I received an email from a gentlemen by the name of Gerald Strauss where he stated "I never signed anything that said she could use my name as a public supporter. I am going to email her campaign and let her know that I do not support her."
Along with Gerald, there are two other names that overlap as well, specifically Carol Bailey and Steven Kling--who are also listed as supporting Tom Bakk. Let me be clear, these two names could very well be different people with the same name, and I am currently attempting to verify who these people are and who they support.
The reason I point this out is because of Minnesota Law 211B.02 FALSE CLAIM OF SUPPORT which states: "A person or candidate may not state in written campaign material that the candidate or ballot question has the support or endorsement of an individual without first getting written permission from the individual to do so."
As of last night, Jaime Tincher, Speaker Kelliher's Campaign Manager made the following statement regarding the discrepancy: "Your "discrepancy" is with the Gaertner campaign. Ms. Grabow filled out a form and checked "list my name as a public supporter" for Margaret for Governor."
It's unclear whether this form is a signed supporter card or part of an online subscription form.
However, according to Kate Monson, Communications Director for the Gaertner campaign "Karen Grabow signed a supporter card at a fundraiser for Susan."
This distinction may seem small, but if only one of the campaign's has an actual signed supporter card, then the other legally cannot list them as a supporter. Perhaps if they both have signed cards then some paradoxical political meltdown may occur, but nevertheless it's quite possible one person happily supports many candidates.
For the sake of the gubernatorial race, I urge each campaign to double-check their lists and make sure the people they claim are supporters really are, because although this may not matter in the grand scheme of things, it does matter to the law of the land.
