Send the professor
That slogan could have been used in the 1990 U.S. Senate campaign of an unlikely candidate with the name of Professor Paul Wellstone. Here is a man that never had a successful run for office and little money or name id against his well financed opponent in two term Senator Rudy Boschwitz.
Paul did not come to the fight for progressive values empty handed. He had spent years doing community organizing while a professor of political science at Carlton Collage in Northfield Minnesota. He know how to run, (and Wellstone Action later wrote the book on ) true grassroots campaigning.
Is it time to send another Professor?
Paul was a firebrand whom stuck to his guns and sent Rudy Boschwitz packing in a stunning upset and was the only Democratic pick up that year. Wellstone was outspent 7 to 1. Most called it a David vs Goliath story.
Senator Wellstone tragically died in a plane crash 11 days before his likely reelection to a 3rd term in 2002. His opponent St. Paul Mayor, former DFL'er and failed Gubernatorial candidate Norm Coleman went on to win a squeaker of an election 49.5 to 47.3 over former Vice President Walter Mondale who was Paul's late hour replacement on the ballot.
In 2006, a Mankato High School teacher, football coach, Command Sargent Major of the Army National Guard, Tim Walz decided to run for congress in Minnesota's 1st district. Walz, whom studied grassroots campaigning with Wellstone Action, had earned the respect of his students, soldiers, and athletes over the years. He had worked, and taught overseas, also served Our country in support of Operation Enduring Freedom after September 11th. Many decided that they knew and trusted Tim so they backed his campaign regardless of their own political affiliation. To the cadence of "Who's going to fight for me? W-A-L-Z!" on the streets of small southern Minnesota towns, Tim went on to win a seat in the House of representatives against Representative Gil Gutknecht, a 6 term incumbent whom unlike most Republicans was not tainted with corruption charges.
Here in 2008 members of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor party (DFL) have a chance to replace Senator Norm Coleman. Coleman spent his first years in the Senate helping, and the last few sitting complacently by as President Bush and his cronies slowly destroyed our nation. Veterans benefits:"nah screw'em" Looking into allegations of millions of taxpayer dollars wasted on the war profiteering in the Wars in Afghanistan or Iraq: " nope, my bosses that picked me to come here, Karl Rove and Dick Cheney have asked me not to" An elephant in moderates clothing, Coleman has been trying to remake himself as a middle of the road kind of guy after the 'thumping' the Republicans took in 2006. In 2003 he backed Bush 98% of the time. In 2007 he backed the President 68% of the time according to Congressional Quarterly. Coleman's approval is typically floating around the 50% mark, thus he is vulnerable, especially during a presidential election cycle in the state with the longest blue streak in the Country.
DFL'ers not unlike Democrats at the national level are blessed/cursed with a wealth of great candidates. We need to be careful in selecting who our guy to take back Wellstones's seat is. While satirist Al Franken and Attorney Mike Ciresi get most of the press and are great candidates, I feel our "David" for progressive values lies in ProfessorJack Nelson-Pallmeyer. Nelson-Pallmeyer teaches Justice and Peace studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. Jack is the author of a number of books dealing with hunger, foreign policy, globalization and religion.
Jack began running for the senate with an exploratory bid in spring/summer 2007. He traveled Minnesota rallying the base to support him. After gaining steam with the grassroots Jack jumped in with both feet and hit the ground running. His campaign has attracted the support of a number of members of the Legislature, but most importantly to me, he won the support of former state Senator Becky Lourey whom fell short of winning the 2006 nomination for Governor. She was the most progressive candidate, and I feel many progressives still have her back.
Wherever Jack Nelson Pallmeyer seems to go, he gets support. If you see a debate of the 4 candidates running for senate, people often say Jack did thebest. Jack is not watering down or changing his rhetoric to try to attract Republican or Indy votes, he is sticking to his guns and being who he is, much like Wellstone did in the run up to the Iraq War. (Wellstone was advised by some to vote for the war because it was thought voting against it in during an election season would make him look weak. Paul stood his ground and voted no. He was the only Democratic senator up for reelection to do so, and polls in Minnesota show folks respected him for standing with his core principals.) Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer was also one of Wellstones' foreign policy advisers. Jack STRONGLYopposed the War from the very start and is on record. PDF Ciresi said he opposed the war from the start, but I can't find proof. Franken claims he was duped into believing Powell and initially supported the War.
On the environment Jack Nelson Pallmeyer is the only candidate that is willing to sign the 1 Sky initiative.
1 sky calls for: Political leaders to promise to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050, starting right away. They want to create five million new jobs in alternative energy and conservation technologies. And they want to ban any new coal-fired power plants until someone figures out how to capture the carbon they produce.
Franken and Ciresi want to water this down.
A spokesman for DFLer Al Franken's campaign says Franken is open to various approaches. He really likes the green jobs idea, but he wouldn't commit to the ban on new coal-fired power plants. He says we should develop technology to capture the greenhouse gas emissions.
DFLer Mike Cerisi also won't support a ban on new coal plants; he says it depends on conditions in each region of the country. .
On Climate Change:
The stakes are high. NASA’s leading environmental scientist warns that "we have at most ten years" to address climate change and that following "a business-as-usual course" will result in "a far more desolate world" for "all foreseeable human generations."
Hat tip to MN Blue
From Campaign site:
Our planet is heating up at an accelerated pace, and scientists widely agree that human activities are amajor cause. Without urgent action we will experience devastating effects, including coastal flooding, an unprecedented refugee crisis, prolonged droughts and heat waves, and water shortages. While our country is the largest contributor of greenhouse emissions, the Bush administration has refused to join international efforts to address global warming. The economic costs of not acting to address global warming are far greater than the costs of taking bold action now.
We need to enact effective public policies to address global warming and build a renewable energy economy. This includes setting an ambitious national goal to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2030 through conservation, efficiency, better mileage vehicles, mass transit, responsible building codes and carbon taxes. Creating a renewable energy economy will generate millions of high-paying jobs. Federal research and development dollars must be reprioritized away from new weapons systems to renewable energy.
I believe we can forge a new, visionary path for our nation. Together we can heal the earth by addressing climate change and building a renewable energy economy; build a culture of peace by redefining security and ending the Iraq War and govern for the common good by ensuring economic fairness to meet human needs.
Jack on Iraq:
Jack calls for us to announce our intent to redeploy from Iraq in 6 months. Only then will the wheels of the Iraqi political reconciliation machine get moving. Jack notes:
"All of our hopes and dreams are held hostage to the Iraq war. The $12 billion per month we spend on the war not only hurts Iraqis, it also cripples domestic efforts to address pressing environmental, health, education and other needs at home. It is shameful that the Bush administration demands hundreds of billions of dollars to continue an unnecessary war while refusing to adequately fund programs for returning vets or health care programs for uninsured US children."
On going to war with Iran without authorization:
"It would be crazy for us to think that this administration wouldn't do something crazy!"
My personal fav from Jack, and it could be applied to any issue you'd like. I like to think it is in relation to all progressive values:
"Our country is like a car racing 150mph headed over a cliff. And when that is the situation, the solution is not to slow down to 100mph."
After Jack's official entry into the race he reported his 4th quarter fund raising $284,000 bucks from 1,400 donors. All but 111 were from Minnesota. Franken has a large nation wide fund raising block, but has been criticized for accepting large chunks of change from out of state. Hopefully Norm Colman's millions in Political Action Committee money will not go unchallenged.
Jack is a viable cand
While Jack has some ground to make up in this race for the endorsement, I belive it is far from over. All candidates say they will abide by the party endorsement and stay out of a primary. Lets hope that is what actually happens.
Here is a bio and a bit of a stump from Jack.
Remember Minnesota caucus Feb 5th. I'm hoping we cansend Professor Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer to the US Senate