How To: Party Conventions in a Pandemic

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Wednesday March 11, 2020 · 5:37 PM PDT

2020/03/11 · 17:37

(Delayed and virtual party conventions appear to be allowed by our Minnesota democratic party, and I suspect other state’s democratic parties have similar rules.)

Thanks to Trump, coronavirus cases in the the U.S, are doubling almost every other day and multiplying by a factor of 10 every 8 days. That means, for example, that a state like Minnesota which now has 5 cases will have 50 if we’re holding a party unit convention on saturday the 21st. Given that the coronavirus has an incubation period of around 5 days and those infected with the virus are expected to isolate for 14 days, 8 days from now their will be another cohort of infected but undiagnosed persons 4 or more times as large giving us 200 infected and potentially contagious persons in Minnesota by saturday the 21st. That’s 3 for every senate district, and thus most every country unit convention will be in a “hot zone”.

By saturday the 21st many of the sites we hold conventions at such as schools will already be closed by the coronavirus. Even if our site is still available, it is irresponsible to hold an in person convention in the middle of a pandemic. We have a window for county unit conventions until April 19th and our Minnesota DFL party constitution and by laws appear to allow extensions with the permission of the state party chair.

But what if the pandemic continues and we still can’t safely hold a convention? Well, Article 3, Section 10 of our party constitution states:

“Section 10. Electronic Meetings.
Subject to the provisions of this Constitution and Bylaws, and according to the governing documents of any party unit, electronic meetings may be conducted to act on matters when time, weather or special circumstances do not permit a regular meeting.”
We do have a requirement that notice of a meeting or change be given at least 72 hours in advance by electronic means and 10 days by mail, so we can’t make this weekends meetings virtual. But with the exception of the state convention, I can find no requirement that any convention but the state party convention be held in person at a specific site. And this years state convention has to be convened in Rochester, but there’s no requirement that every delegate be there.
So looking ahead to the growth of this pandemic and the health risks of large gatherings such as party conventions, we would be wise to prepare to hold our conventions online to preserve the integrity of the process and keep that process accessible to all.

GOP plan to take Minnesota's 10 electoral votes is real, Minnesota DFL asleep at the wheel!

dyna

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Monday September 23, 2019 · 11:34 AM PDT

2019/09/23 · 11:34

While back I wrote about the GOP’s scheme to turn Minnesota red by organizing in rural areas, and I had to admit that they had a workable plan… But was the GOP serious? Since then the GOP even though we’re over a year out from the 2020 elections has hired around 20 campaign staff, four times the DFL’s crew. I’m hearing from DFL (Democratic Farmer Labor) party activists in rural Minnesota that they’re even receiving GOP messaging encouraging them to register and vote GOP. And the MN DFL party leadership, tracking new voter registrations, has noted a surge of new registrations in rural GOP leaning areas of the state.

The state party’s response? Nothing! Nothing heard from D-Trip and DSCC either, even though they have threatened incumbents and rural districts they need to win back. Smugly confident after giving our electoral votes to democratic candidates for going on half a century, the party leadership thinks a GOP victory can’t happen here. That’s what they thought in Wisconsin…

But the GOP threat is real- Hillary carried Minnesota by only 45,000 votes, barely a 1% margin. The GOP almost took Minnesota even with voter turnout in many red counties below 70%, while deep blue Ramsey county had a 75% turnout and even bigger blue Hennepin county had an 81% turnout, and statewide turnout was 75%. The 3 most rural of Minnesota’s 8 congressional districts, the 1st, 7th, and 8th, had turnouts of only 68%, 66%, and 68% respectively. In the 7th CD alone the republicans by driving their turnout up to 80% can pick up around 25,000 votes and defeat democratic incumbent congress member Collin Peterson. Improving GOP turnout to 80% in CDs 1 and 8 will give the GOP an increase of another 40,000 votes, with CD7’s new GOP votes enough to take Minnesota’s 10 electoral votes and a congressional seat. Then figure in that CD2 and CD3 just barely elected DFL congress members, and they and CD6 have lots of rural counties with plenty of potential for the GOP to improve their turnout- We’re looking at the potential of 100,000 more GOP voters in 2020 and beyond.

Those 100,000 extra GOP voters will turn Minnesota red, and our state DFL party ain’t doin’ nuthin ‘ to match it!

Trading Prisons and Mining for Colleges- A Win-Win!

dyna

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Wednesday August 28, 2019 · 3:23 PM PDT

2019/08/28 · 15:23

For the last few weeks I’ve been involved in fighting an attempt to reopen a closed for profit prison in Appleton, Minnesota as an ICE detention facility, so I’ve been reading up on the area and it’s economy a bit. One fact stood out- In Swift County where Appleton and the prison is located only 31% of the working age population have even a 2 year degree from a community or technical college. The counties within the standard 50 mile commuting range have only 27% to 44% in Stevens County, which is an outlier probably because it’s home to the University of Minnesota-Morris, the rest of the counties are well below 40%.

Up in northeastern Minnesota where two companies are trying to open copper mines in the two counties within commuting range only 39% and 40% have a 2 year or higher degree. And in the coal mining areas of West Virginia typically only about 20% have a 2 year or higher degree, and in some counties less than 10% do. For comparison in the Minneapolis-St.Paul 7 county metro area in 5 of those counties over 50% of working age adults have a 2 year or higher college degree, and in the lowest county 41% do.

So no surprise that in Appleton where 69% of the workforce has no college or technical degree, those prison jobs that didn’t require a college degree are still sorely missed years after the prison closed. In northeastern Minnesota the “Rangers” always made education a high priority so they’re a little better off, but still 60% are lacking the college degree that will qualify them for better jobs. And West Virginia’s coal country is off the map- No wonder that when the mines close, disability payments and Social Security become the major income sources.

Manufacturing and the growing medical services field demand STEM skills beyond high school level- Workers need to be able to work in the metric system, use computers, and communicate well. Rural towns like Appleton and mining towns with their low educational levels can’t attract high paying jobs that require education beyond high school, so they’re stuck begging and bottom feeding for low skill industries like prisons and mining. And it ain’t these towns and mining areas fault- Appleton is 36 miles from the nearest 2 year college and most of West Virginia’s coal mines are at the other end of the state from it’s university. In Minneapolis you have a handful of huge universities granting degrees up to Masters level within 10 miles and at least a dozen 2 and 4 year colleges.

We progressives and environmentalists are beating our heads against the walls trying to take away prisons and mines from workers who have few alternatives. To persuade workers to give up low skilled jobs in prisons and mining we have to offer an alternative, and a better one at that. Appleton needs a closer Community and Technical College campus, northeastern Minnesota’s miners need more program options at the local Ely college, and coal mining country needs community and technical colleges everywhere!

And while we’re at it, let’s sweeten the deal with free tuition for the first two years of college!

Sunday Rural Roundup- What Candidates Ya Likin'?

dyna

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Sunday August 11, 2019 · 5:44 PM PDT

2019/08/11 · 17:44

Sign wars, chanting competition, and media swarm outside the north Iowa democrat's "Wing Ding" event which drew 20+ candidates...

Spent Friday chasing presidential candidates around Iowa, including the biggest ever sign wars and chanting competition outside the Northern Iowa Democrats “Wing Ding” at the Surf Ballroom featuring our twenty odd candidates. IMHO Warren’s contingent won the sign wars hands down, so many people that they needed both sides of the street. Best chant goes to the smaller Booker contingent with their dance line!

But the meat of the matter, even for vegetarians, is which candidate will do the most for rural America? Being a Minnesotan I’m partial to Amy Klobuchar, a well known quantity who’s represented rural America well in the senate for most of this millennia. But Amy’s having a hard time catching on even in Iowa, so I shopped around some more… Dang, Bernie’s got a good rural platform just like in ‘16. Then Biden jumped in with an ag platform that at least wasn’t recycled from Hillary’s campaign and written by a Big Ag lobbyist, and he backed it up with a campaign kickoff tour of rural Iowa.

But Warren caught my interest- She and Amy were the only major candidates to show up at the rural forum in Storm Lake and Elizabeth was definitely on top of the issues, especially the monopolies that are stealing farmer’s livelihoods. Took a little digging but I found Elizabeth’s rural platform and it shows an understanding of the broken rural economy few other candidates can match. I threw my support behind Elizabeth, and friday afternoon on the banks of the Des Moines River she delivered a lecture on how farmers are going broke and making Big Ag richer while polluting the river. So knowledgeable was Elizabeth on the subject that while she had several experts present, she didn’t need them… That’s why I’m supporting Liz!

So what candidates ya likin’? And of course, any outer rural issues ya wanna talk about...

RVs are not housing, we can do better!

dyna

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Saturday August 10, 2019 · 3:16 PM PDT

2019/08/10 · 15:16

I want to thank Moody Loner and this diary about a housing crisis for inspiring this thread.

Pictured is the “Park Model” mobile home I sold for $5000 in January, and that’s at least twice what it’s worth. Bought new in 1992 by mom and dad as a replacement for the quality 50s vintage stick built home in Minnesota that will far outlast this broken promise on rusted wheels. Damaged by two hurricanes it was never built to survive, it had water leaks in places I can’t find. 2 by 3 wall studs on 24 inch centers and less than 2 inches of insulation meant a monster air conditioner producing $200+ a month electric bills, and that $5000+ air conditioner is dead since the last of many floods.

Nobody should have to live in housing this bad, and it should be flatbedded to the county landfill three miles away where they’ll be glad to dispose of it for $400. But the owner of the trailer “park” was happy to buy me and my long term lease out, so this poor excuse for housing has probably been flipped by now and is another poor person’s “home”. We haven’t build new housing at market prices in any significant quantities since the recession a decade ago. Affordable housing is our unspoken national crisis… What’s the solution?

Bare Fields, Democrats Rising!

dyna

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Wednesday August 07, 2019 · 8:28 PM PDT

2019/08/07 · 20:28

Half the fields out here are usually corn and the other half soy beans, flipped each year in an attempt at crop rotation aided by hefty helpings of nitrogen. In this spring of wet fields and Trump induced low bean prices mosta the corn got planted and maybe half the beans, Trump having made “prevented planting” insurance payments the more attractive option despite Trump’s last minute “trade adjustment” bribes.

So my 70 mile drive to Farmfest was in my 69 years the first in which it seemed a quarter of the fields were bare, too saturated by years of herbicides to grow even a decent cover of weeds in the absence of beans. Bare fields tend to be a sign of deep trouble in a nation, and not been seen so nationwide since the depression. Farmfest is a mega farm show in rural western Minnesota, usually brimming with anything a farmer might need or want including politicians. But Farmfest was even barer than the fields, with empty acres on the showgrounds where tractors, combines, and farm trucks were once displayed. Republican politicians were scarce too, though nobody missed them.

But Minnesota democrats were there in full force, starting with both Governor Tim Walz and LG Peggy Flanagan yesterday morning, followed by what looked to be every democratic department commissioner in an afternoon forum. Today western Minnesota democratic congress member Collin Peterson dragged Ag Secretary Sonny Purdue to a public forum also attended by fellow MN democratic congress members Angie Craig and Dean Phillips despite their districts being mostly suburban. Sonny got an earful, even breaking down and pretty much admitting to global warming when retired dairy farmer and democrat James Kanne asked him about paying farmers to grow crops that sequester carbon. Sonny is probably undergoing reprogramming by big oil as we speak, and if that fails he’ll probably soon be spit out of the Trump administration’s executive revolving door…

But that was just our warm up, after Farmfest closes for the day democrats from far and wide head off to Ted Suss and Janet Marti’s nearby farm for the corn feed that matches anything our neighboring Iowa democrats can produce, ‘cept they got the two score plus presidential candidates speechifying for a couple hours. We had most of the state Farmers Union leadership in attendance as well as democratic party leaders aplenty, while congress member Angie Craig, Secretary of State Steve Simon and State Auditor Julie Blaha fired us up with their oration. The huge crowd of democrats, probably a record for an off year, roared their approval!

The GOPs electoral high water mark in rural Minnesota was 2016, and we took a good chunk of those votes back in 2018. In 2020 we democrats are taking rural Minnesota and America back!

Sunday Evening Rural Roundup...

dyna

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Sunday July 28, 2019 · 4:23 PM PDT

2019/07/28 · 16:23

Got the crazy idea a while back that maybe we rural Kossacks could use an open topic forum every week or so, and a laid back sunday evening seemed ideal. So after 8 hours in the shop I knocked off and while supper’s cooking got in front of the computer, surfed over to Kos, and here I am givin’ it a try. Went lookin’ through my recent photos and this one won out over all the old tractors, so now we got a topic (if needed), the endless flooding and general climate change that’s playin’ hell with farming. So, what’s on your mind this lovely evenin’?

Why this Rural Progressive is Endorsing Elizabeth Warren

dyna

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Monday July 22, 2019 · 6:38 PM PDT

2019/07/22 · 18:38

I’m an old lefty, in my fourth decade of supporting progressive democratic issues and candidates. Though I’ve never lived in Iowa, I’ve been on the ground there following the presidential candidates in the caucuses since 1996 and campaigned for Howard Dean, Barack Obama, and Bernie Sanders… There’s always an Iowa road map in my car even though I don’t need it much by now, and one bank of presets on the radio is set to Iowa stations. I recently gave up my CD level party officer position so I could concentrate on writing my blog for rural progressives, Blue Out Here. I live in a town of 39 in rural southwest Minnesota, so my “beat” naturally includes rural and all too red northwest Iowa. Just about any time the presidential candidates appear north of Sioux City and west of Mason City I’m there, including the rural forum in Storm Lake a few months back where Elizabeth Warren was the only top tier candidate to appear.

Much of my passion is for electing down ballot democratic candidates, and I’ve seen how a strong top o’ the ballot candidate’s coattails can help elect democrats all up and down the ballot, and all too often I’ve seen how a weak top o’ the ballot candidate can lose us yet another election in rural districts. Political bloggers tent to be honestly partial to their favorite candidates, and with the DNC less than a year away it was time for me to pick a candidate.

My first criteria was that the candidate is a progressive, Elizabeth Warren clearly ticks that box. Second, the candidate had to have a strong rural platform supporting family farmers, here's Elizabeth's. Third, that platform has to be followed up with a proven commitment to rural issues… Only 20% of Iowa’s population lives in predominately rural areas, but Elizabeth has made over half her Iowa campaign appearances there, a higher proportion than any other top tier candidate. Finally, to win a candidate has to be authentic… As the crowds at her events exceeded the capacity of the venue, Elizabeth would go outside in the cold to speak to everyone, and take questions too. And instead of scurrying off after delivering a stump speech to private audiences with big donors and big media, Elizabeth stays to answer more questions and even pose for 100+ selfies with fans!

For these reasons I heartily endorse our best and strongest candidate for progressives and rural America, Elizabeth Warren!

Rural Democrats have only 2, maybe 3 candidates...

dyna

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Tuesday July 16, 2019 · 4:56 PM PDT

2019/07/16 · 16:56

I write this blog for rural democrats and it’s been a boring spring on the campaign trail in rural northwestern Iowa where Hillary bombed so badly that few democratic presidential candidates show their face here. Seems a year ago that I laid down my standards for supporting a candidate- Electability and the ability to help our whole democratic slate in rural America, rural experience, public policies that would preserve family farms and small towns, and just plain being authentic.

While I’d love to endorse the pride of Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar, like most of the candidates she’s polling in the low single digits, and a couple other candidates come to mind that would be great on rural issues but haven’t a chance of winning Iowa, never mind the endorsement. Fact is, at this point a candidate needs to be polling consistently in double digits so we’ve got Bernie, Elizabeth, Joe, Kamala, and maybe Pete as viable candidates to choose from. I’ve been digging through the crosstabs of every poll that breaks out results by geography and Bernie and Joe do best in rural areas, after that the rest fall off a polling cliff to the point where they could lose the election… The Electoral College doesn’t give extra credit for winning California by a landslide, and many of the 10 or so swing states are rural.

Bernie wins on rural experience by a 4 minute mile, though in their defense almost every democratic candidate has wandered outside the SMSAs and voted for family farmers and small towns.

Of the viable candidates, up until today only Bernie had a detailed rural policy posted on his website for all to read, and it’s detailed enough to leave no big ag monopoly undisturbed. Joe finally popped out a rural policy today, it’s a lot more comprehensive than Hillary’s and unlike her’s it doesn’t read like the writing of a Big Ag lobbyist, but I doubt they’re worried. Should be interesting to see if it stays pinned on Joe’s website or is another disposable PR. Elizabeth has made some moves in the right direction with a stop at the big rural forum in Storm Lake a few months back and dropped a PR on rural issues ‘bout then too, but apparently rural issues aren’t important enough to merit a page on her website. Looking at the rest of our viable candidates, it’s been crickets from Kamala and Pete.

And finally authenticy, and there are lessons here from 2020... While rural voters turned on Hillary for her sense that the presidency was owed her, Bernie beat her even in many conservative rural districts because he was an upfront democratic socialist for decades and didn’t have to check the political wind direction before deciding where he stood on an issue. Bernie leads again for just plain being Bernie, Joe isn’t quite the debacle Hillary was but the campaign seems like deja vu, and Elizabeth is a cool grandma but a New England prof ain’t gonna have an easy time winning over rural America, though to her credit her campaign is organizing in little towns in northwestern Iowa that every other campaign has written off. And Kamala and Pete? Please get your rural act together just in case you win the endorsement, we don’t need another Hillary to drag the whole democratic slate down in rural America!

So rural democrats have two good candidates, Bernie and Joe, and maybe a third in Elizabeth...

dyna

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Thursday June 20, 2019 · 7:23 PM PDT

2019/06/20 · 19:23

VW’s rogue American operation has a new agency and a new ad campaign, titled “Drive Bigger” that features soccer players and teachers doing good stuff for kids and in a couple months they’ll probably segway to saving whales or something else cute. Meanwhile, VW’s Chattanooga plant has the lowest pay scale of any auto plant in America, and VW’s USA’s management intends to keep it that way. To accomplish that they’ve torched VW Group’s principles of workplace democracy and brought in the best anti-union consultants money can buy supplemented by Tennessee’s worst anti-union GOP politicians.

No wonder the second unionization attempt at VW Chattanooga just failed by an 833 to 776 vote, a slightly better result than in the previous election. VW Chattanooga is unprofitable because VW USA mismanages the assembly of uninspired products there, and low wages ain’t gonna fix that. VW, quit BSin’ us with slick multi billion dollar ad campaigns… Just “drive” your pay “bigger”!

Poverty: Why rural folks vote GOP and do other stupid stuff...

dyna

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Monday June 17, 2019 · 5:58 PM PDT

2019/06/17 · 17:58

Rural poverty- Pictured is a dangerous attempt to load a bulldozer on a trailer pulled by a too small tractor. Every piece of equipment in the picture is at least 30 years old, the bulldozer is obsolete and bought at an estate auction for $7500 and the same buyer bought the trailer for around $600. The bulldozer is twice the weight of the tractor and the trailer hasn’t been licensed this millennium, and the tractor has no provision to activate the trailer brakes even if they worked. The bed tilt latch on the trailer was rusted up so they tried to load the bulldozer with ramps, which resulted in the predicament pictured- fortunately they were on the flat as not a single braked wheel made contact with the ground! After this they made another attempt to tilt the trailer bed and got the bulldozer loaded, but they didn’t make it even a hundred yards before giving up as besides flat tires the trailer’s bearings were rusted frozen!

Rural folks don’t buy junk like this and take these risks because they’re stupid, they do it because they are desperate. Desperate people do desperate and risky things, like voting for GOP candidates who will oppose their interests on mere promises like no tax increases and social conservatism. When you’re trying to get by on social security and keep a car running for the 15 mile round trip to the overpriced grocery store, the old days when the rural economy seemed to work are a time you want to go back to, and you reject anything that smacks of urbanism, investing in the future, and even science when it disagrees with you. Understanding the desperation and strange logic of rural poverty is one of the keys to winning elections in rural areas. Let’s discuss...

Pride a Bloomin' on the Plains= 2020 GOP Defeats!

dyna

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Sunday June 16, 2019 · 5:28 PM PDT

2019/06/16 · 17:28

The crowd at Sioux Falls Pride, or at least as much as I could fit in the picture...

For us queers of the great plains, pride used to be simple… Go to Minneapolis. Then came Sioux Falls, Fargo, Duluth, St.Cloud, Rochester, and Mankato prides. Times were so simple, now we got pride celebrations in Brookings, Yankton, Watertown, and even in Orange City this fall!

Now you’d think with all these competing prides that attendance at each would fall. Was planning on making Brooking’s first pride celebration friday night despite being tired from liberating and replacing the struts on a rust belt VW. Checked Facebook while eating supper and they’d already filled the venue to capacity. So saturday morn I arrive early at Sioux Falls Pride, and noted pride goers already parked a half mile away! Fortunately being a pro at this parking stuff and armed with the aforementioned newly resprung VW I managed a spot two blocks away without resorting to the handicapped parking permit or some obscure clause of the TIR international transportation treaty to justify quasilegal parking. The line for the womens room was already well out the door, and this being South Dakota where the GOP government still mandates strict gender discrimination even while taking a dump in private stalls, the women dared not utilize any surplus capacity in the mens room.

And I ain’t complainin’ a bit- When thousands of queer folks and friends get out and organized in a state with only a half million voters, the GOP has reason for worry. Especially since the GOP over the last few decades forgot all about building roads and their other traditional strengths and got all preoccupied with who slept with who in the privacy of their homes and which private toilet we should use. The GOP is safe in their wealthy enclaves of the Black Hills and tax havens like Dakota Dunes, but the thousands who attended pride will turn many a rural swing district blue in 2020- And the South Dakota Democratic Party, Pete for President campaigners, and a bunch of other activist groups were there to make it happen!

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