I've been thinking about the DFL endorsement battles, and the battle to get elected in general. It's what I do. I think about elections, and how to win them, and how to organize to win them(among other things, I think about music, good books, and long walks on the beach). We all know that it really is a battle sometimes, elections can be rough.
We, as members of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party have the same general outlook on the issues. We are a big tent, so there is a wide array of viewpoints, a wide array of ideas, and a wide array of how to implement those ideas that flow through the veins of the DFL. It's good to offer a strong defense of one's candidate. It's good to be excited about someone who you think can do all the things you want them to be able to do. But what else do our candidates really need from us and us from them?
I believe, as supporters, our candidates need us to ask them the hard questions, and to tell them the truth rather than painting a rosy picture if the horizon is darkening. Our candidates need us to ask them what they want from us, and we need them to ask for our help. We need to trust our candidates and their staffers' framework for the volunteer work that they ask of us. We need to know that they need us, and remember that they need us so that they can know about that particular thing (issue), or that particular person ("Tiffany, the DFLer from down the road?" "Yeah, she'd be a great volunteer! But don't call her on Tuesday until after 3pm.").
We're the candidates' local connection. Our candidates need us to be a mouthpiece (or keyboard, as it were), but our candidates need us to represent them in an honorable and non-politically damaging ways. I say this in particular to remind everyone that the internet can be unforgiving (there are snipers everywhere). Our candidates need us to listen, and our candidates need to let us in on their strategic thinking at least a little bit, (if we can be trusted (how do we measure that? I'm not sure.)) so that we can understand. We need to level with one another to understand what we want from each other. They need to set our expectations, and we need them to surpass ours. Our candidates need us to be able to think about the "big picture." Our candidates need us, uncommitted and committed alike, to tell our neighbors now why a DFLer is a better choice in a generic general election match-up in the fall.
After the endorsement/primary battle is over, our candidates need us all to work together again to make the phone calls, to walk and knock on those doors. Our candidates need us to come together and drink the wine of a united front rather than sipping on our sour grape juice alone in the corner. They need us, and the party needs us to go out and talk to our neighbors about why it is so important to vote in any election. They need us to help drop "off-year" from the presidential/occasional voter's vocabulary.
These are the things that we need from one another in order to ensure success.
On another blog some of us were discussing how we feel about candidates who don't answer emails. I said that I know people who will not support candidates who don't respond to their emails, letters and phone calls. It is frustrating when a voter is ignored. Although it's very important that a candidate respond to voters, it's certainly not the only thing that ought to be looked at. Here's some of the things I look for.
1. Can he or she do the job? How much past government experience is there?
2. Has there ever been an issue of honesty, ethics, integrity, character, etc?
3. What did the candidate do in past positions to make life better for other people?
4. What evidence is there that the candidate doesn't want to be governor to obtain power and glory?
5. If the candidate has a lot of money, where did that money come from?
6. What is my gut reaction to the candidate? What do my instincts tell me? What does my heart say? What does my logic say?
7. Does the candidate really like campaigning for money? Or does he/she find it a distasteful necessity?
8. What are the core values of the candidate? What in his/her life show that these are indeed the core values?
9. Does the candidate take care of him or herself? If they don't take care of themselves physically, they won't make taking care of Minnesotans a high priority.
10. Does the candidate like children and animals? That says a lot about the candidate. If he or she has an obvious distaste for them, I wouldn't vote for them. Not very many candidates have pictures on their websites of interaction with children or animals. With the exception of Goldie Gopher.
While Minneapolis is actually using ranked choice voting, St Paul just had a ballot question on whether to use use ranked choice voting.
Final Results
YES 17083 52.45% NO 15486 47.55%
Actually, I am surprised! It is a practical idea whose time has come. Ranked Choice Voting (RCV)will also the provide financial savings of skipping a low-turnout primary. However St Paul tends to be cautious!
The attitude of St Paul can be summed up in this comment, "I'm still not sure what I think of ranked choice voting (RCV) but I think it's just prudent for St. Paul to wait and see how it works in Minneapolis." On the other hand, I and others argues that there many good government practices that Minneapolis manages to mess up, just because it is Minneapolis. St Paul is a much more different culture than Minneapolis, based on more caution, with good reason for St Paul has a much smaller tax base. St Paul has a culture more based on personal relationships and trust built over a long time.
Fiscal prudence of St Paul is pushing for ranked choice voting. Last year, we could have eliminated a primary. If RCV passes, then our St Paul legislators would have obtain a state legal change to allow the school board to be included, which is given a high likelihood.
(Local races like these have a direct impact on our daily lives. Plus, as a Minnetonka resident myself, I'll be voting for these two City Council candidates on Tuesday. - promoted by Joe Bodell)
The Minnetonka City Election is Tuesday November 3 at the usual polling places. (http://www.eminnetonka.com/ to find your polling place).
Bonnie Bina and Amber Greves offer progressive leadership for the city.
Participation in off-year municipal elections tends to be very low, but these people have a profound impact on our community and they deserve our participation and support. James Hiller (Ward 4, not at stake in this election) has demonstrated the importance of progressive voices in his protection of the Glen Lake Commons from destructive development.
The low turnout means that a few votes can make a huge difference. Here's your chance to be heard.
The city faces a number of development issues in the next few years that will have major impact on our way of life.
In an article posted on Monday night at Politics in Minnesota, Sarah Janecek was fact-checking a comment from AFSCME Executive Director Eliot Seide.
The article gives analysis of the AFSCME endorsement of Mark Dayton's Gubernatorial Campaign on Saturday. She wanted to fact-check the sentiment shared here:
[Eliot Seide]
mentioned that it's been "almost 40 years" since the DFL Party has endorsed a candidate who has won the general election.
Let's take a look at the most troubling pieces of the "facts" connected to the analysis:
Let's go in order (in the article's reverse order)
In 1998, Jesse Ventura beat DFL-endorsed Skip Humphrey.
Skip Humphrey won the DFL primary, however, Michael Freeman was the DFL endorsed candidate going in to the primary.
In 1986, we elected DFL incumbent Perpich to another term -- but he was not the endorsed candidate. Then-St. Paul Mayor George Latimer was, and Perpich beat Latimer in the DFL primary.
From the Star Tribune June 14, 1986 (full article at the bottom of this post).
Perpich won a 72 percent endorsement vote from the convention's 1,250 delegates - well above the 60 percent needed, but below the 81 percent DFLers gave their last gubernatorial candidate, Warren Spannaus, in 1982
That year, Perpich knocked Spannaus out of the race in the DFL primary - something St. Paul Mayor George Latimer is attempting to do to Perpich this year.
The most fact troubling paragraph:
Which brings us to 1978. Perpich was the endorsed DFL candidate, but he lost to GOPer Al Quie. It was a blowout year for the GOP. In 1976, when U.S. Sen Hubert Humprey{Jacob here, Spell check?} died, he was temporarily replaced by his wife, Muriel Humphrey.
Anderson appointed himself to the U.S. Senate, and Perpich became governor. That collusion cost Perpich the election, and it cost Anderson his U.S. Senate seat (he lost to GOPer Rudy Boschwitz).
In 1976, Walter Mondale was elected Vice President of the United States. Governor Wendell Anderson resigned as Governor in late December 1976 to vacate Mondale's Senate seat, which happened, on December 30, 1976.
In January 1978, Senator Hubert Humphrey passed away and his widow Muriel was appointed to his Senate seat to fill out the term (which would end later that year).
Hubert Humphrey died in 1978, not 1976.
When the fact-checking is flawed, the whole conclusion of the article becomes flawed:
Eliot's right on the facts.
It's now been over 24 hours since the "article" was posted, and 23 hours since I posted a comment to point out the flawed facts. The article still has not been edited nor has my comment been posted. It's not that I care that much about my comment being seen, it's about the facts being correct.
Full June 1986 article, (thanks for the heads up Mr. D) and October 2009 PiM article after the "fold."
Together, we've supported causes and campaigns over the years, many of them near and dear to our hearts. But few campaigns present us with the opportunity to make as significant a change as in Minnesota's 6th Congressional District.
That's why I'm supporting Tarryl Clark in her campaign for Congress. And I hope you'll join me today.
I believe that Tarryl Clark can lead the 6th District in a new direction. She will unite us behind positive solutions - a stark change from the controversial comments and partisan rancor we've seen over the past few years. She will focus her time and efforts on listening to her constituents and turning ideas into action.
She's already done it here in Minnesota. Tarryl is a vigorous campaigner and a tireless leader in the Minnesota Senate.
As a community advocate and then as a State Senator, Tarryl has always stood up for Minnesota's working families. From raising the minimum wage to ensuring our seniors aren't scammed by predatory lenders; from ensuring access to early childhood education to investing in our state's treasured colleges and universities; from strengthening reintegration services for our returning veterans to building our transportation infrastructure, Tarryl has always fought for our families and our communities.
I'm proud to call Tarryl my friend, and I know that she will make a tremendous Member of Congress.
But to get there, she needs your support today.
I hope you will join me in supporting Tarryl's campaign for Congress. Your contribution of $250, $100, $50, or whatever you can afford will help ensure Tarryl's campaign is off to a strong start.
Minnesota has a long tradition of electing people with a deep-rooted belief in public service. Tarryl Clark will continue that tradition, and I ask you to join me in supporting her campaign.
Sincerely,
Walter F. Mondale
p.s. Tarryl's first fundraising deadline is tomorrow - September 30th. Please join me in supporting Tarryl's campaign and make your contribution today.
Don't forget that if the Senate race does end soon, ya gotz to buy the book (just click on the picture). Winerev, aka Carl Eeman, tracked every facet of this sordid affair in his Daily Kos diaries. Winerev quickly became required daily reading for his complete coverage and fantastic digressions into tenuous metaphor.
Dontcha love it when a conservative who loudly proclaimed that several people should resign because of their philandering ways, gets busted having an affair and refuses to resign? He was actually having the affair when he urged Sen. Larry "widestance" Craig to resign. Hypocrisy much, John Ensign?
Minnesota Majority, a right wing Republican group founded by former Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, is at it again. Kiffmeyer became infamous for insisting that election judges display posters warning of terrorists in polling places on election day 2004 when she was the MN SoS. Minnesota Majority have lived up to their founder's incompetence.
Plaintiffs in the suit are Minnesota Majority, Jeff Davis, Dan McGrath, Jean Sanford, David Fitzsimmons, Representatives Matt Dean, Tom Emmer and Mark Buesgens and Senators Warren Limmer and David Senjem.
The lawsuit is based upon research recently conducted by Minnesota Majority. We compared the Minnesota Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) to the official 2008 State Canvassing Board Report (SCBR) and discovered a discrepancy of over 400,000 votes. Further investigation revealed that voter history updates have not been posted in over 800 precincts spanning 25 counties. Both the SVRS and the SCBR were provided by the Minnesota Secretary of State's office. In late April, Bert Black, legal counsel to Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, told Minnesota Majority that SVRS voter history updates pertaining to the 2008 general election had been completed by all counties, but the data on the SVRS disk provided showed that not to be the case.
Kiffmeyer, Emmer, Davis and the rest of these clowns have repeatedly attacked Minnesota's election system shrieking "The SkY Is Falling! Vote Fraud! The SkY Is Falling! Vote Fraud! The SkY Is Falling! Vote Fraud!" without ever proving a single instance of vote fraud. Their solution to this non-existent problem is to push through Voter ID bills.
Their real intent is vote suppression.
Maybe after this lawsuit is thrown out, we could all meet and I'd be glad to buy them all a steaming hot cup of Shut the **** Up.
On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, just 4 days ago, a lot of DFLers took the time to help Paul Thissen celebrate the opening of his campaign office. And I mean " a lot." I was surprised by the turnout. Some of them are already confirmed and dedicated Thissen supporters, such as the couple that made the trip down from Duluth. Others were curious about Paul, and what they told me is that they are finding out that Paul Thissen is a serious guy running a serious campaign. One of my questions was how a metro area DFLer would do in Greater Minnesota; I was told a YouTube addressing that very issue would be posted on Team Thissen's website. Since it now is, let's take a look!
With yesterday's "developments", the race is wide open. Running hard is Paul Thissen. Team Thissen is a team to watch.
With both campaigns having rested their cases, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is laying the groundwork for making a push to seat Senator-elect Al Franken once the three-judge panel makes its ruling:
As attorneys for Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken wrapped up their arguments in the Minnesota Senate recount trial Friday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) issued a statement saying the decision of the three-judge panel should be respected - opening the door to seating Franken if the case is decided in his favor.
"The Minnesota court's ruling deserves respect and five million citizens of Minnesota deserve full representation in the U.S. Senate as soon as possible," Reid said. "Norm Coleman wanted his day in court, and we respect that. He's gotten seven weeks. We all await the outcome from the three-judge panel." ...
Coleman has said publicly that he is open to appealing the decision and exhausting his legal options.
But Democrats have said recently they see light at the end of the tunnel, and with Reid's statement it appears likely they will move to seat Franken if the judges rule that he is the winner - even if he has not been officially certified because of ongoing legal challenges. Democratic Senate leaders can move to seat Franken at any time, since it is the prerogative of the Senate to determine its membership.
The legal teams have made their closing arguments and the trial has concluded as the three-judge panel will now deliberate for, likely, a period of weeks to determine who won the 2008 U.S. Senate race in Minnesota. Via Minnesota Public Radio, you can listen online to the closing arguments of both the Franken legal team and the Coleman legal team. When will a decision be handed down? Talking Points Memo asked a Minnesota election law expert:
Hamline University professor David Schultz tells TPM that he now expects the court to probably rule at some point in the first week of April, with a declaration that Al Franken is the winner.
After the three-judge panel, what will happen next? There are a couple of possibilities as to how things might (or might not) proceed. In my analysis, I operate under two assumptions:
A) Norm Coleman is a loser and Washington Republicans know it. Wait, huh? If the D.C. Republican establishment know that Coleman is a loser, why do they bother supporting him? Ultimately, for Republican leadership, an empty seat is as good as a Coleman win. Why? The Senate GOP's only weapon is the filibuster. Whether there are 99 seated Senators or 100 seated Senators, Democrats need 60 votes for cloture. Therefore, a prolonged legal battle keeping the seat empty is as good as a Coleman win.
Many ideas were presented today by Mark Ritchie, Minnesota Secretary of State. The list is behind the fold. To me the single greatest improvement, not on the list, would be
Make the Tuesday General Election day a holiday!
I hate the idea of an electronic election book. It leaves us as vulnerable to electronic loss or programmed changing of data. Right now when an electronic outage happens we can continue voting. An electronic outage happened during the last election, near my house, due to a car accident. An electronic outage with an electronic book would STOP voting. That is unacceptable. Right now several lines with several books are set up. I can just see the computer problems that hold up everything. Which brings me to my next rule:
Keep paper ballots and paper processing, so we can vote in the middle of electronic outage or snowstorm and no one can mess with our votes.
Moving the primary to an earlier date will be the most controversial proposal.
I am worried about that this proposal
• OSS ensures that only eligible Minnesotans are registered to vote by checking government databases including: courts, Department of Corrections, Department of Public Safety, and Social Security Administration.
I think that this has be done 6 months in advance with two notices sent to the voter, so the voter can basically fix any problems. Right now people like me with four names would be disenfranchised because some government cannot hold my legal name, and there is a name mismatch. Minnesota is less vulnerable since I could simply re-register on election day. Florida and other states have used this process to prevent many valid voters from voting.
At a state senate hearing Friday about the Franken/Coleman recount, Dick Day marvelously expressed the conservative view that disenfranchising some voters is OK. It explains how they could see it as election theft to count absentee votes that were wrongly rejected. That's the breaks, too bad. Day was talking specifically about the standard for hand recounts of going by the intent of the voter. Had the machine decided of course, and wrongly rejected ballots not been counted, Coleman would have won. It's self-serving of them of course, but also their attitude that voting is a privilege, not a right, so if you don't get to vote, so what? If you can stop likely Democrats from voting, isn't that just the game?
This one just forwarded from a dedicated MnPP reader - read it, and let the fisking begin!
Dear Friend,
The next several weeks are going to be very important in the Minnesota recount.
After each and every pivotal phase of this election and recount, Norm Coleman has been elected--and been ahead--and we expect this to continue all the way through the completion of the recount.
But, that isn't stopping the Franken campaign and their D.C. supporters--Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and incoming Senate Rules Committee Chairman Chuck Schumer--from trying to change the rules to benefit them.
(Kudos should be given when our government works well, as well just criticism for when government is broken. - promoted by Grace Kelly)
I wrote my original draft the last week of October. Clear the Recount details out of your brain, and send your mind back two months ago.
The power of a vote is an informed vote. I realized that the moment I proudly cast my first vote, and my heart sunk when I knew a fraction of the candidates and issues. I vowed to pay attention and be more informed the next election. My personal sample ballot wasn't available then, so I used reliable sources like the StarTribune. In recent years, the StarTribune has fallen by the wayside, hardly even covering big ticket races like the Senate. Some community newspapers have done more articles. In the past few years, the surprising new good sources for voting information have been Minnesota's election Web sites.
I forget which year, but the Minnesota Secretary of State's Web site had an option for me to type my address, and get a text list with the name of every government district with jurisdiction for my address. A year later, that Web page expanded to a text list of the elected officials' titles listed on my personal ballot. In 2006, the Web site had a text list with all the candidates' titles and their names, which made a Google search easy for finding information on my candidates, including the elusive Soil and Water Conservation Districts.
