Former U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, who represented Northeastern Minnesota in Congress for an unprecedented 36 years, is expected to endorse former Congressman Rick Nolan on Monday at a 10:00 am press conference at the Minnesota Museum of Mining in his hometown of Chisholm on the Mesabi Iron Range.
This endorsement from the most powerful and iconic congressman in the history of the Fighting 8th gives Rick Nolan a strong boost towards the finish line and pushes the already tenuous campaigns of Jeff Anderson and Tarryl Clark right off the cliff of irrelevance and into the abyss of total obscurity.
Oberstar could easily have waited until after the primary to make an endorsement in the race. That the former dean of the Minnesota delegation chose to come out for Nolan well in advance sends a strong message to the entire 8th district that Rick Nolan is the one candidate who can accomplish the extremely difficult task of unseating an incumbent congressman. More importantly, it tells his fellow Rangers that 'Rick Nolan is one of us and we can trust him'.
Anderson has built his entire campaign around the Iron Range and mining, making a number of erroneous claims about Nolan in the process. Clark is relying solely on her bank account, as she has been in the race for over a year and been unable to get any traction whatsoever. Oberstar's endorsement of Rick Nolan for Congress basically says this to his fellow Rangers: 'Anderson can't win, and he's not telling the truth. Clark can't win, and the 8th district is not for sale. Rick Nolan supports both ferrous and non ferrous mining. Rick Nolan will champion the entire Iron Range, from the Cuyuna to the Mesabi to the Vermilion. Rick Nolan will be in the trenches with organized labor fighting for the rights of working people. Rick Nolan is the only candidate who can defeat Michele Bachmann clone Chip Cravaack. Now stop screwing around and unite behind Rick Nolan so we can take back our congressional seat.'
Jeff Anderson put all his eggs in one basket, and Jim Oberstar just swooped in and scrambled all of them.
Tarryl Clark has nothing but money from other outsiders to show for support, and Jim Oberstar just pulled the plug on the only thing keeping her alive and declared her campaign dead on arrival.
It's game over for Anderson and Clark.
The only response Anderson and Clark can possibly have is to attack Jim Oberstar, political hari cari for a democrat on the Iron Range.
A DFLer cannot win the 8th district congressional seat without carrying the Iron Range by a large margin. Jim Oberstar understands all too well that money finishes a distant second to strong support when it comes to winning elections, particularly on the Range. And Jim wants the democrats to win this election. So he wisely remained silent and simply observed the race. What he saw - what we all saw - was an unstoppable Nolan for Congress train, continually building up steam while Anderson's train was puffing along far behind, never quite making it up the hill, and Clark's never even leaving the station.
Rick Nolan has indeed amassed a broad coalition of grass roots support throughout the district since entering the race in mid July of last year. And with the assistance of two of the most respected and trusted leaders on the Iron Range, Veda Ponikvar and Joe Begich, Nolan won the DFL endorsement to challenge incumbent Rep. Chip Cravaack last month by an overwhelming margin. Oberstar stepped forward now because he knows that this kind of support wins elections and translates into enough money to wage an effective campaign. The unqualified endorsement from Jim Oberstar just seals the deal on the Iron Range: Nolan is our guy. He's one of us. We can trust him. Nolan is a proven winner who will beat Chip Cravaack.
At this point Anderson needs to think about preserving his political future, and Clark should take a hard look at salvaging what little remains of her career in Minnesota politics before it's too late. If they are smart, both will heed Oberstar's message and unite behind Rick Nolan in order to ensure that progressives win the 8th district congressional seat back from the Tea Party in November.