The 7 most dysfunctional state parties

[Ban my account ffs!]

The MNGOP definitely kinda stumbled and faceplanted spectacularly and have been increasingly dysfunctional since their shenanigans in the 2002-2006 period.

The history of the modern MNGOP (since the early 1970s, when partisan elections came to the state legislature) was one of limited, but respectable success.

The MNGOP really became successful in the late 1970s when German-Americans emerged on the political scene in the state after 60 years in the wilderness.

After the governor who oversaw the "Minnesota Miracle", Wendell Anderson, did some shady sh**t to try and get himself a U.S. senate seat... the hypermoralistic Minnesotans, with a wave of German Catholic support, spanked the DFL hard in 1978 and defeated the DFL ticket almost completely.

Al Quie defeated Rudy Perpich for governor, and we elected Republicans to the senate.  

But the GOP by 1978 had been completely taken over by moderate and even liberal (for Republicans) interests that had little interest in the type of conservative wave that was overtaking the nation.  They changed the party's name to the Independent Republican party to show they wanted nothing to do with the national GOP (due to Watergate).  So Rudy Boschwitz and Dave Durenberger (a Jew and a German.. how apt) were elected.. and generally tried to sell themselves as the Independent Republicans their IR label afforded them.

But with a nasty economic downturn and the worst unemployment rate since the depression, Minnesotans quickly turned around and elected Rudy Perpich into the governor's office in 1982.  Rudy Perpich took on some of the proactive approach to governing that the DFLers had begun to do in the '70s.

Perpich began to make regular trips all over the world to sell Minnesota and bring businesses to the state.  He also did weird things like donate a good chunk of his salary to the promotion of bocce ball... and he also used to go to his parents' grave plot to 'commune' with his ancestors.  This earned him the name "Governor Goofy".

The experiment with trusting the IR party might have begun to fall away as the DFL once again dominated state politics by 1990.. except that the IR candidates for senate and governor both had trouble.  Paul Wellstone ran a wholly grassroots campaign and came from behind to win the senate seat as a strong liberal candidate.

The IR party was saved, however, when the candidate for governor, a conservative, was found to have had some kind of relationship with a teenaged girl that came out just before the election.  He dropped out of the race.  In his place, the primary loser, Arne Carlson, stepped in.  At the time, Carlson was seen as much too liberal for the IR party.. but he won the election with a broad coalition of moderates backing him.

Arne Carlson ended up being extremely popular and well liked by the center 2/3 of the political spectrum, and his coattails in '94 for re-election also helped keep the senate seat in Republican hands.

As activists from the fringes in both parties began to really take over in the 1990s, the IR reverted back to just being the Republican Party... and you had a DFL run by staunch liberals and an MNGOP run by staunch conservatives.

Paul Wellstone made re-election against his former opponent in '96 and Clinton being fairly popular helped the DFL in the state.. but by 1998, a lot of younger Minnesotans, especially in southern MN and in the MSP suburbs were fed up with the extremes of both parties.

Enter Jesse Ventura.  He ran an unusual, cheap campaign against "politics as usual" and resonated with younger Gen X Minnesotans.  He won a plurality in a 3-way race that stunned the nation.

With the state house in GOP hands, the senate in DFL hands, and the governorship in Reform Party hands (soon to be Independence Party), Ventura had a heck of a time trying to get his agenda met.  He was staunchly libertarian.. mocked the religious, opposed GOP attempts to restrict abortion, came from the right of both parties on fiscal issues... but was a staunch supporter of transit development.

With large surpluses from the incredible economic growth in the state, he proposed a tax rebate and cutting tax rates across Minnesota with the state taking a bigger chunk of school funding.  All fine and dandy until the tech bubble burst.

After the bad reaction to Wellstone's memorial service in 2002 and a national GOP wave, the DFL had a slim majority in the senate, the GOP a large majority in the house, and Tim Pawlenty and Norm Coleman were elected.

Pawlenty, a strong conservative, was able to force through a "no new taxes" budget despite an enormous deficit that caused major cuts in funding to counties, cities, and school districts.

This intransigence from the GOP immediately began to sour Minnesotans taste for them... and as the state saw lacklustre growth even as the national economy improved after 30 years of doing better than the nation as a whole.. we saw the state slipping down the ranks of nearly every quality of life indicator.

After more GOP shenanigans in 2003/04... 19 GOPers were tossed out of the house and the DFL majority in the senate grew in 2004 with now a bare 2 seat edge for the GOP in the house.

Despite this, Pawlenty continued to govern as if nothing had changed... forcing a government shutdown in 2005 when he couldn't agree with legislators on a budget.

The public blamed the Republicans for this shutdown... and despite re-electing Pawlenty in '06 in a 3-way race that involved a loudmouthed, unpopular DFLer with an idiot running mate, a former DFLer in the MNIP, and Pawlenty.. he won with under a 1% margin and didn't break 50%.

The legislature had massive swings again towards the DFL and they got a veto proof majority in the senate and nearly one in the house.  It came to a head in 2008 after the bridge collapse and 5 house GOPers voted to override a veto on a transportation bill that included a 5 cents/gallon gas tax increase.

The MNGOP, having elected fresh young, and very conservative faces to the party leadership, sought to punish those members for breaking the bloc...

Then in 2010, with the Republican wave... the MNGOP pushed hard.. spending all kinds of money they didn't have to steamroll the state with ads.  Except they had to nominate the crazy for Governor.  Tom Emmer was a nutcase.. claiming waitresses made $100,000/year and that we needed to slash school funding and bend over backwards to corporate interests...

So the GOP took the state house and senate in a huge rout in 2010... but flipped the governorship too with the slightest edge given to Mark Dayton.  Like in 2006, all other statewide offices went to the DFL.

So... Republicans in control of both houses of the legislature for the first time in history (since partisan elections), they started on 40 years of conservative items they had been waiting to push on the state.  They had no less than about 10 potential constitutional amendments from forcing a supermajority for tax increases to blocking gay marriage to voter ID.  And rather than work on the budget, they worked on these things.  So when Dayton wouldn't play, the government was shut down again.  And the GOP took the blame again.

Shortly after, the MNGOP completely imploded.  It was discovered they couldn't pay their bills after huge debts incurred to get elected to the majority in 2010.. and major scandals among party leaders in and out of office with no fresh faces to challenge the better known DFLers... so in 2012, the legislature flipped right back to the DFL.

And with a full DFL government for the first time since 1990, the legislative session went very smoothly and a number of progressive items were pushed through.  And it appears they were mostly popular.