Minnesota Gubernatorial thread

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The convention here sent dedicated delegates only to Tom Rukavina.  The rest were uncommitted.  Still, Rukavina got a good chunk.

Not surprising, since he was the stronger northern MN candidate.

I sincerely hope the MNGop nominates Emmer.  A suburban ultra-capitalist Republican?  He'd get slaughtered outstate... even by a liberal city guy like Rybak.

Not that Seifert is any better:  "My solution for Minnesota is to downsize government and let the corporations take over delivering government services."

Everybody in MN knows that the government is the 2nd worse deliverer of government services... just ahead of corporations.

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Bakk dropped out too. That obviously helps Rukavina. I still don't think he has much of a chance though, better chance at swaying the eventual nominee between Rybak and Kelliher. I don't see anyone else with a good shot at the endorsement.

I agree that Seifert and Emmer both are pretty lousy candidates. Both offer nothing but right wing talking points and are basically Pawlenty without charisma and the charm he has over some suburbanites. Some of them might be scared to vote GOP anyway on the "OMG SOCIALISM" type charges that'll get tossed around, but it's tricky to see either putting together a coalition giving them a majority. We might have a pretty low turnout election though if the nominee is someone like Kelliher, who is kind of the DFL equivalent. I personally don't have a problem with her, but it's tough to see her exciting anyone besides liberal Democrats.

I can see Mak kinda being the next Jon Marty.  The difference is that Emmer and Seifert are now Arne Carlson either.. so it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

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Jim Oberstar-DFL from MN CD 8 recently endorsed Tom Rukavina, a fellow 'ranger for governor.  At the moment I'm pulling for Rukavina, but I really doubt he'll take it.

I think the best candidate to win would be R.T Rybak.  Marge is a farm girl.. but she's been plastered as a big city liberal and she's more controversial than Rybak because of her house leadership.

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Well, the good news for Rybak is that the RenewMN delegates voted to consolidate and there are indications they'll support him.

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Seifert withdraws after the second ballot and gives it to Emmer.

WOOHOO!

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I think this race will be eerily similar to 1998.  Both parties nominated great candidates for their respective bases, but neither are particularly appealing to the middle... though I think MAK is definitely the less acerbic of the two main parties and if she plays it cool, could do well.

Still, Tom Horner, the main candidate for the IP endorsement, is a well polished former Republican who is taking a very moderate approach on most issues.. though he is siding with the DFL much more on tax policy (basically... we can't fix a budget deficit that is equal to 20% of our biennial spending with cuts alone).

So who knows... the problem with the three parties in MN is that the DFL and IP are way too similar on the issues that Minnesotans care about (education, healthcare, transportation, environment)... so they split up the sane vote while the hard rightwing takes the cake for being solid behind their candidate.

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As soon as Emmer details his way of not only using cuts exclusively to deal with a $7 billion budget deficit, but also proposes more cuts to pay for tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations.. he'll be toast.

Rural Minnesotan Republicans already are nervous about him (hence why not one western/southern Minnesota Republican delegate endorsed him)

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Now the hacks at Minnesota Democrats Exposed are trying to call the Independence Party frontrunner a Democrat, despite having served as an aide to former Republican senator Dave Durenberger in the 1980s.

The guy at MDE claimed that Tom Horner made a $250 contribution to Tim Penny's house campaign in 2000 (Tim Penny is a former DFLer turned independent)...  the contribution was actually returned to Horner some months later.  Tim Penny endorsed Dean Barkley in the 2008 senate race and John McCain in the presidential election.

The GOP knows that they nominated the rightwing nutjob, and they're going to try and do anything they can to paint Horner as a viable alternative to the DFL so Emmer can squeak by in the general... when in fact, for the first time since the rise of the IP, the likely candidate is actually on the right side of the spectrum.

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Yeah.. my rep is quite liberal.  He doesn't look it though:

Here he is at the DFL endorsing convention with my state senator, Mary Olson, and former rep Frank Moe.


The obligatory gun shot:



And John showing off his windmill:



When I worked at the bookstore he used to come in and order obscure old country music all the time.