Last weekend the MN Democrats held their endorsing convention in Duluth.http://www.dailykos.com/... It was part one of the 2 step process ALL MN political parties use to name their candidate for various offices. Margaret Kelliher, 49, Speaker of the MN House, won the endorsement. She will face off Aug. 10 in a primary vs. Matt Entenza and Mark Dayton. The winner is the nominee for the November general election.
Starting Thursday the MN Republi-cranks held their endorsing convention in Minneapolis. (Actually today is the last day; the main business today will be adopting the party platform for the fall election. Mind you, when its Republi-cranks doing a platform these days its better know as an extortion note to the body politic. A first take on what it will likely contain is here, complete with gay-bashing, protecting America by withdrawing from the UN, and repeal of the 14th Amendment (really!): http://www.minnpost.com/...)
The big news was the endorsement for the governor’s race. Like the Democrats the Republi-cranks have been maneuvering for support, money and publicity, spread-eagled among as many as 10 candidates. Marty Siefert, 38, was lately seen as the man to beat. Siefert has been a member of the MN House for 14 years, making him something of a political wunderkind. He is currently House Minority Leader and is conservative enough to be billed as "Pawlenty 2.0".
But actually, you know, working IN government to carry T-Paw’s water and wishes to the point that bridges fall down is not enough. Not enough at least for the wacko wing of the Republi-cranks making all the news these days. Their champion has been running a while (like the other 9) but emerged with some profile in the last couple months: Tom Emmer, 49.
Emmer is a square-jawed former hockey player who definitely looks the part. He hails from Delano, MN, formerly a dot on the map place west of Minneapolis that has been caught up into the ex-urban sprawl. (The landscape features former farmland now sprouting a large crop of McMansions.)
The Tea Partiers fell in LOVE with Emmer, or rather, his fiery speaking style. (Can't really believe in SUBSTANCE you know.) Here is a man recently quoted saying in Marshall, MN, "I don’t think you can be a freedom-loving American and be a Democrat." Ooooh-boy, one of those! The Tea baggers love his anti-government rhetoric so much ("Thee best thing that could happen to Minnesota’s government would be to burn the capitol to the ground."—not word for word but damn close) they are willing to overlook the fact that Emmer has a job....in St. Paul....at the capitol.......as a member of the MN House....since 2004. He is trying to run as the consummate outsider----while drawing a paycheck to support his lovely wife and 7 (!) children from the state.
He also this week picked Janette Meeks as a running mate. Janette Meeks has been in MN politics for a couple decades, working the conservative (although not wacko wing; more old-school, with whiffs of reason and reality) side of the street in various capacities. She is seen as a major inside player---you know, the perfect running mate for an outsider’s campaign. (BTW, Meeks has drawn a salary from the Metropolitan Council, a Twin Cities board that tries to address the unique issues of the 7-county metro area where ½ the state lives: water & sewer infrastructure, some kind of urban planning and sprawl control; pushing light-rail, etc.) Meeks is now running for a candidate & party who would love to abolish her present job (the Met Council) and also abolish the job she is running for, Lt. Governor! (Meeks was on a good government committee about 10 years ago that made such a recommendation.)
Well, its Emmer-Meeks for the MN GOP for the (publicly funded housing) governor’s mansion. Led by endorsements by Norm "Horse Dentures" Coleman ("Good to see you again, Mr. Former Senator!") AND an endorsement on the convention’s first day by......wait for it.........YES, Caribou Barbie herself, Sarah Palin!!!! ("You betcha, also!") the convention settled down to voting. Emmer showed excellent strength on the 1st ballot (60% needed for endorsement), moved up on the 2nd, and saw Siefert concede before the 3rd. It was a display of organizing and passion trumping careful planning and thoughtful accomplishments. The Star Tribune, led by an actual journalist, Rachel Stassen-Berger (grand-daughter of the late Harold Stassen), had some decent coverage here:
http://www.startribune.com/....
Now all the former candidates, including Siefert, pledged to NOT run in the August primary, so Emmers will win that in a walk. It won't be official until then, but he IS the nominee and can start campaigning for November now.
The emerging picture (and its will get a bit clearer after next week’s Independence Party convention) is a more or less standard brand Democrat emerging from the Entenza/Dayton/Kelliher dust-up vs. a screeching bloc of Michele Bachmann-ites trying to break out of their MN-06 stalag and go statewide. The Alliance for a Better Minnesota group of progressives (great response time!) ALREADY has up a classy website smacking Emmer around head-on via several telling videos:http://www.tomemmersmn.org/.
What will be intriguing will be MN’s moderates (and there are a lot of them): they’ve often found a home among common sense Republicans back in the day, or among moderately liberal Democrats. If the MN GOP goes hard right, will they migrate to the Democrats? OR.....will the Independence Party fill the vacuum?
Thats some the latest from yust southeast of Lake Wobegon.
Shalom.