This is a post I just uploaded to my blog, Norwegianity, in response to Chris Bowers/Blue Majority/ActBlue's endorsement of Al Franken over progressive candidate Mike Ciresi in Minnesota.
I woke up with some deep regrets this morning. For the first time ever I wish I had worked harder at building a larger audience for this blog. I wish I had thousands of readers, and that most of them were here in Minnesota. Because I wish I had a bigger voice that reached more progressive ears.
Yesterday Chris Bowers announced that Blue Majority / ActBlue was endorsing Al Franken in the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor party primary selection process. In Minnesota that means BM/AB is helping to fund caucus organizing so that Al Franken delegates can secure the DFL endorsement for Al next summer, and that that will hopefully translate into a September primary win for Franken, springboarding Al to a win over Sen. Norman Bruce Coleman in November.
Here's Bowers' explanation of the BM/AB process.
Last month, in a post on Open Left, I wondered if Al Franken was the best example of a progressive movement candidate we had seen to date, given that his campaign is overwhelmingly people powered (over 45,000 donors so far), he passed the "bar fight primary" with flying colors (more than willing to take the fight to Republicans), he comfortably and repeatedly self-identifies as a progressive, and that he came into politics as an outsider, specifically from progressive media. The response I received to that post was almost universally positive, and while I don't know if he is the very best example, he clearly is an excellent case, and so I urge you to contribute to Al Franken on the Blue Majority Page. Let's build the progressive movement together by supporting a first-rate movement candidate.
As a final note, I want to mention that while Al Franken is involved in a competitive primary in Minneosta, this endorsement comes entirely because Al is so fantastic, not because his primary opponents are clearly defective in any way. Al is a Democrat who I believe will never let us down, and always make us proud. He comes from the progressive movement, and will take the fight to Republicans. He is exactly the sort of candidate many of us have looked for these past few, and we are happy to reward that with our support in and of itself, not just relative to other candidates in the campaign. It certainly is great to make an endorsement for someone, rather than against someone else.
[Chris Bowers, Daily Kos]
Excuse me if I'm somewhat underwhelmed by Bower's enthusiasm for Franken. Nowhere in his post does he mention Mike Ciresi or fault Mike Ciresi. No acknowledgment that the two men are polling dead even against Coleman, no hint of any objection to Mike Ciresi's record or candidacy despite Ciresi's clear advantage as an early objector to the war in Iraq (while Franken was still buying into WMDs).
I was absolutely livid last night when I read this endorsement post. For months now I've been agonizing over the choice between Al Franken and Mike Ciresi. When I was at City Pages, I applauded the rumor that Al might get in the race, but since then I've come to know Mike Ciresi's record and I've been deeply torn over who to support. I've been trending towards Ciresi, but my inclination has been to not endorse a candidate in this race as I have this bizarre belief that we should let the state's Democrats do the picking (and I mean in a primary and not the goddamn DFL's lets-let-the-activists-piss-off-half-the-state endorsement convention).
Christ but I am pissed. We're half a year from the caucuses and out-of-staters from our own movement butt in and tell us who to support? How could this have possibly passed any sane netivist's radar? How is this one iota different than the DSCC fucking with last year's primary?
Chris Bowers invited me into his BlogAds group, and I have always thought well of him. I never dreamed that he or one of his groups would barge into Minnesota and screw with our process. Never.
I was holding off on picking a candidate in this race because I had planned on publicly backing whoever the DFL DIDN'T endorse next summer. My hatred of the DFL's narcissistic annointing process is well documented, and much as I hate staying on the sidelines, that was my game plan.
No more. I just decided to endorse Mike Ciresi. And if Chris Bowers' Blue Majority/Act Blue wants to butt into any other primary races between qualified progressives anywhere else in the country, I'll be endorsing the other candidate in those races as well even though I feel strongly that outsiders shouldn't butt into primaries unless one or more of the candidates really bite.
Not that I can match Chris Bowers online organization. I can, however, do my damnedest to throw a monkey wrench into BM/AB's arrogant interference in matters that should not be any of their concern.
And I can ask some questions.
Who are the Minnesotans who were consulted about this endorsement, or was the decision made entirely by out-of-state money wonks?
Which Minnesota blogs have already endorsed Franken?
How many Minnesota politicians have endorsed Franken?
What polls have been taken showing that Franken is a stronger candidate?
Did the DFL lobby in any way on Franken's behalf?
Why was I, a netizen who reads several dozen blogs daily, totally unaware of BM/AB's intent to do early, early endorsements?
When was it decided that the netroots would step into contested primary races between equally matched, equally progressive candidates?
Just asking. And I'd deeply appreciate it if Chris Bowers would respond to those questions as my inclination right now is to put a 1000-year curse on Blue Majority/ActBlue.
Chris, you're not the DSCC, and this revolution wasn't about creating an online movement that would be as abusive as the old system.
Give this some more thought. It would be better, imho, to rescind this endorsement now, than it would be to force Minnesota Democrats to turn our endorsement/primary system into a ratifying process on the importance of the netroots' endorsement.
I've been blogging in this state since 1999, and I feel very betrayed by my own movement right now. This isn't going to end here. Not for me.
And Mike? — buy some ads at Daily Kos. Apparently if you're not giving these people money and hugs, they bite you on the ass big time.
Oh, and Chris? If you're going to endorse in Minnesota, at least try to spell the name of our state correctly when you do. We'd appreciate it.
UPDATE: It's been suggested in the comments that I modify my last few comments to be a little less abrasive. Sorry, I was mad when I wrote them and I'm still alarmed about all of this today.
This is my first diary but I'm not a newbie to DK. I've been reading it since at least 2003, I was Kos's driver when he came to the Twin Cities to promote his book, and I was at YK in Chicago and still have an ActBlue bottle opener on my keychain. I haven't participated more in this community because I'm busy doing my own thing, running a rant blog out of St. Paul.
Those are my creds to be here. What are Chris Bowers' credentials to be picking candidates in Minnesota? Has he ever been to Minnesota? Who besides him made this decision? Where is the transparency?
Like most Minnesota activists, I've met both Franken and Ciresi. Like most Minnesota activists, I'm not in a rush to pick between them, or at least I wasn't before this BM/AB endorsement. My subsequent endorsement of Ciresi is a reaction to BM/AB interfering in this race. I didn't know it was the goal of BM/AB to become the DSCC, but some commenters have made that case and that shocks me.
Had BM/AB bothered to poll any Minnesota bloggers, I don't think they would have found any support for this endorsement. Not out of negativity towards Franken, but because few of us are alarmed by either candidate. Either candidate would beat Norm Coleman, I'm convinced of that.
Sorry if I seem rude, but this is like waking up in the morning and learning that your spouse wants to put one of the kids up for adoption so he/she can focus on the other kid. Why do we have to choose, and why do we have to do it so early?