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Endorsementpalooza 2008: Part One: The Bloodening
By Jeff Fecke | October 29, 2008
So seeing as we’re a week out from Election Day — and thank Jeebus — it’s time for me to share with you who and what I’m supporting this year. Why? Because I have a blog. That’s what I do. So without further ado, here are my endorsements for 2008, starting with Congress.
United States Senate
Fmr. Sen. Dean Barkley, IP-Minn.
I will not be voting for Dean Barkley on November 4. I don’t think he can win, and I’d like to see Norm Coleman get ousted this year; I’d feel pretty lousy if my vote for Barkley ended up keeping Norm in office. So I’m going to vote for Al Franken. But I’m not happy about it.
Al Franken is running for Senate for the right reasons, I think, but his personal baggage has made this a much closer race than it would have been for a generic Democrat like Tarryl Clark or Chris Coleman. Moreover, Franken is a staunchly partisan Democrat. That’s nice — if you’re a Democrat. But Senators should be more than just Democrats or Republicans. I don’t think Franken will embarrass the state — certainly no more than Jesse Ventura. But I also don’t think he’s poised to be the kind of Senator who can work across the aisle to get things done.
Norm Coleman, though, deserves to lose this election, for backing George W. Bush when it mattered. Coleman, lest we forget, is in office thanks to Dick Cheney, who ordered Gov. Timmy out of the Senate race in 2002.
Ironically, I think Coleman probably would be a better Senator in the next six years than the past six; being in the minority with a Democrat in the White House, Coleman might actually start working across the aisle and embracing his inner pragmatist. But Coleman would do so because he is not so much a partisan as a weather vane, always willing to point whatever direction is best for Norm. He allowed himself to stand with the disastrous Bush administration. That shows a reckless disregard for the good of the country, and he should be removed from office.
As for Barkley, he’s not perfect, but at the very least, he’s a thoughtful, decent person who would try to serve the state as best he could, while serving as a bridge between the two parties. Of the three, Barkley has shown the greatest understanding of what it is to be a public servant — and he has been the only candidate to run a campaign based on the issues, as opposed to personality and gotchas.
If we had instand runoff voting, Barkley would be my first choice. I won’t vote for him only because he is too far back to close. But of the three men vying for the office, he is the only one that would truly try to represent all Minnesotans. Norm Coleman has been asked to, and failed. Al Franken simply won’t. As a Democratic partisan, I’ll take the guy who will represent me — but I’m not going to argue that he’s the best choice this year. He isn’t.
United States House of Representatives
1st Congressional District
Rep. Tim Walz, DFL-Minn.
Tim Walz has served his country ably in his first term, and more than deserves a return to Washington. A sensible, pragmatic Democrat, Walz has been an asset to the Minnesota delegation and the U.S. Congress. Walz has worked for veterans, worked to bring the Iraq War to a close, and worked to help farmers in his district.
Moreover, his opponent, physician Brian Davis, has simply failed to make the case for why Walz should go, or why Davis would be an improvement. Indeed, he failed to even return basic questionairres to The Land and AARP. Davis is not a serious candidate, and does not deserve election.
2nd Congressional District
Fmr. Mayor Steve Sarvi
Steve Sarvi isn’t going to win next week, primarily because he didn’t raise enough money to run a credible campaign. The 2nd was always going to be an uphill climb, but Sarvi didn’t put himself in position to compete.
That said, Sarvi is competent and qualified, and has at least shown himself to be willing to represent his potential constituents. His opponent, John “The Empty Suit” Kline, has barely run a campaign, and his web site, as per usual, is completely issue-free. Kline will win re-election — he may be the only Republican left in Minnesota’s Congressional delegation — but he really hasn’t earned it.
3rd Congressional District
Ashwin Madia
Ashwin Madia is a bright and thoughtful guy, who’s served his country in Iraq and come home to run for office. That alone might win him the election, but more than that, Madia is a great ideological fit for the district. A moderate, fiscally pragmatic Democrat, Madia is arguably closer on the issues to outgoing Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., than either of the other major-party candidates. Madia’s main flaw is that he’s not a great orator, but that’s hardly a deal-breaker. He’s shown a willingness to work, and he should be a fine representative.
State House Minority Leader Erik Paulsen, R-Eden Prairie, is far more conservative than the district he seeks to represent. More than that, he and the state GOP have run a race-baiting campaign against Madia, arguing that Paulsen “fits the demographics” of the 3rd better than Madia, whatever that means. Paulsen has run a campaign long on calling Madia a tax-and-spender, and short on positive reasons to vote for him. He doesn’t deserve to win.
David Dillon, the Independence Party candidate, seems like a likeable enough guy, but on issues he’s pretty much indistinguishable from Madia, and he hasn’t given a real reason why Minnesotans should choose him.
4th Congressional District
Rep. Betty McCollum, DFL-Minn.
McCollum has been a hard-working, low-profile leader for St. Paul during her tenure in office, and she’s served her constituents well. Her profile will likely rise a bit in the upcoming term, as McCollum was a Minnesota co-chair of Barack Obama’s campaign, and an early supporter of him. Ideologically, she’s a perfect fit for the 4th, and barring calamity or a run for higher office, she should be there for a long time.
Attorney Ed Matthews is a pretty standard-issue Republican; while he probably would be right at home in the 6th or the 2nd. But he’s not remotely a good fit for the liberal 4th, and stands no chance of winning.
5th Congressional District
Rep. Keith Ellison, DFL-Minn.
I’ll admit, when I endorsed Keith Ellison two years ago, I was as gleeful about sticking it to the righties as I was about Ellison himself. Not that Keith Ellison didn’t seem like a perfectly cromulent candidate, but I didn’t know enough about Ellison to know how good he could really be as a representative of Minnesota.
The answer, happily, is outstanding — Ellison has served as the kind of representative the 5th deserves. Yes, he’s very liberal, just like his district. But he’s been willing to work across the aisle, most notably working with the Bush administration to reach out to the Muslim world.
Ellison has performed well since his auspicious swearing-in, where he took the quintessentially American step of being sworn in on the book that defines his faith — the Qu’ran. This, of course, frightened the easily frightened, who see the International Monolithic Muslim Conspiracy in every corner. But Ellison took the moment a step further, choosing to be sworn in on a Qu’ran that had belonged to former President Thomas Jefferson. It’s hard to be much more American than that.
Ellison has been an asset to the country, and a testament to the very best ideals that shape our country — the idea that we are a nation where we do not ask what creed you follow or what God you worship, but where we judge others by their actions and deeds. We do not always live up to that ideal, goodness knows, but Ellison is evidence that sometimes, we do get it right.
Ellison has earned re-election, and his opposition has given no credible argument for his defeat. Independence Party candidate Bill McGaughey will not come close to equaling Tammy Lee’s strong showing in 2006, as the — well, let’s be honest, as the racist lefties have grown up a bit in the past couple years, thanks to Ellison and some guy running for president. They’ll vote for Ellison this time around. Republican candidate Rev. Barb Davis White, who is trying to become the first African-American woman elected from Minnesota, is running essentially a single-issue anti-abortion campaign. But she has taken the initiative to intimidate potential voters, complain about a lack of support from the GOP, and waste her campaign’s limited time and money harassing Jeff Rosenberg. It would take a miracle for a Republican to win in the 5th anyway, but Davis White isn’t running a serious enough campaign to even make it interesting.
6th Congressional District
Fmr. Transportation Commissioner Elwyn Tinklenberg
Let me first get this off my chest: I’m not a huge El Tinklenberg guy. He’s okay, I guess, but let’s face it, if you’re a liberal, he’s less than ideal. He’s pro-life, for starters, and hardly a progressive on other social issues. Economically he’s left of center, but just left. If he was in the Minnesota delegation right now, he’d slot in just to the left of Collin Peterson, and quite a bit right of Jim Ramstad. And if he was running in the 4th, or even the 3rd, I wouldn’t be endorsing him.
But he’s running in the 6th. And he’s not Michele Bachmann. And that’s good enough for me.
Michele Bachmann has been an embarassment to this state from almost the day she walked into the Capitol. She’s French kissed the President on national television, complained about the secret plan to give Iraq to Iran, credited Minnesotans for having to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet, and most recently, she’s demanded that the media start determining which of her fellow Congresspeople are “anti-American.” She’s a national laughingstock, a stain on our state’s good name. I’ve had a Republican staffer on Capitol Hill tell me that she has no respect even in her own caucus. She’s a failure, and she needs to go.
That doesn’t mean that I’m averse to the Republicans winning back the 6th some day. Indeed, I think the 6th is probably best represented by a Republican; certainly, the district tilts strongly to the right. But not Bachmann. If you want to call up Mark Kennedy and see what he’s doing in 2010, go ahead. Maybe get Rod Grams to move to Waite Park, or find some young up-and-comer to fill the slot. Run Mike Brodkorb. Even he couldn’t do worse. Because while Bachmann is an embarassment to Minnesota, she’s a cancer on the GOP. She’s eating up your credibility from within.
This is going to be a big year for the Democrats, and Bachmann will be, at best, mired in an even smaller minority than she is now. Her one seat won’t matter. Get her out of the way, and find a credible candidate to run in two years. Because if you don’t, she’s only going to embarass you more between now and 2010.
7th Congressional District
Rep. Collin Peterson, DFL-Minn.
The 7th is sort of the mirror image of the 3rd; both districts have been represented by moderates who barely fit in their parties. Jim Ramstad probably would be a DFLer if he was in any other district. Similarly, Blue Dog Collin Peterson was, until the election of Michele Bachmann, arguably the second-most-conservative member of the Minnesota Congressional Delegation.
Peterson is about as liberal a candidate as could be elected in the conservative 7th, which is why I’m thrilled that he keeps going back to Washington. Much as the 3rd is set to go blue this cycle, the 7th will go red the day Peterson hangs it up.
Fortunately, Peterson is unlikely to go anywhere in the near term. As chair of the House Agriculture Committee, Peterson’s got a great deal of clout, and I doubt he’ll give it up anytime soon. Yes, that means Peterson’s a pork distributor — but the chair of the Ag committee is always in the pork business, regardless of party. At least Peterson has reasonably conservative instincts. And if you’re going to have pork going anywhere, if you’re a Minnesotan, you want it going to Minnesota.
Republican challenger Glen Menze has run a shoestring campaign — frankly, the state GOP has its hands full defending the 3rd and the 6th. He’s running a generic GOP campaign — fear the Mexicans, save the fetuses, cut taxes — but there’s nothing indicating he’ll do any better than the 30% he took back in 2000.
8th Congressional District
Rep. James Oberstar, DFL-Minn.
Jim Oberstar has been in Congress for all but ten months of my life, and he may be there long after we all die. Certainly, as long as his name goes on the ballot, he’ll keep going back to Washington; the dean of the Minnesota delegation and the Chair of the Transportation Committee, Oberstar is a fixture in the delegation, and he won’t be leaving until he retires.
That doesn’t mean Oberstar’s in cruise control. Oberstar distinguished himself by quickly securing funding for the replacement I-35W bridge, and by taking an active role in asking questions about the Northwest-Delta merger. As such, he’s done what a Congressperson is supposed to do — represent his state’s interests.
Michael Cummins is putting up token opposition from the GOP, running a campaign that’s “pro-life, pro-land rights, pro-2nd Amendment, pro-drilling,” just like John McCain. He stands as good a chance of breaking the DFL’s 62-year winning streak as I do. I do hope he gets more than 34 percent, though, because that would make Rod Grams’ abortive 2006 run even more hilariously full of fail.
Tomorrow: National Races, Ballot Initiatives, and the Thrilling Conclusion!
Topics: Al Franken, Black Muslim Keith Ellison, DFL, Dean Barkley, Election 2008, Jim Ramstad, MN GOP, Michele Bachmann, Minnesota Politics, Norm Coleman | 7 Comments »
October 29th, 2008 at 4:02 am
Jeff Fecke wrote:
You mean there’s a conclusion to the endless string of blog posts about how Obama is the Messiah? After the election, you’ll talk about issues again? Oh, how I do believe in a place called hope. Or something.
October 29th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Why couldn’t Sarvi live in Blaine? Oh well, the 6th won’t be a district much longer anyway, methinks.
October 29th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Yeah man vote for a loser who doesn’t pay his taxes that will learn those damn moderates like Norm :lifetime democrat” Coleman.
Make sure to support that communist bastard Barack obama to. Destroy my country man, come on you can do it!!! Nobody will look back at this and hold you accountable!!!
The revolution is coming, the side you stand on now will determine your fate.
October 30th, 2008 at 2:59 am
[...] In My Mind’s Zen Garden on Obama Infomercial LiveblogTehanu on Don’t Be That GuyMike on Endorsementpalooza 2008: Part One: The BloodeningAlas, a blog » Blog Archive » Dennis Prager: Americans Hate Equality on [...]
October 30th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Sounds like Mike a) forgot to take his pill b) doesn’t pay attention and c) enjoys making veiled threats.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:15 am
[...] Election Day, the U.S. Senate race was the last for which I marked a vote. I’ve been a lukewarm Franken supporter, and if the race had been between him and former Sen. Dean Barkley, IP-Minn., I would have voted [...]
December 19th, 2008 at 1:18 am
[...] Election Day, the U.S. Senate race was the last for which I marked a vote. I’ve been a lukewarm Franken supporter, and if the race had been between him and former Sen. Dean Barkley, IP-Minn., I would have voted [...]