« NARN SPECIAL EDITION TONIGHT ON SUPER TUESDAY | Home | UPDATES ON MINNESOTA DEMOCRATS EXPOSED »
THE DECISION BY THE MN GOP TO MOVE PRECINCT CAUCUSES TO TONIGHT WAS SIMPLY BRILLIANT
By Michael B. Brodkorb | February 6, 2008
Tonight, the staff and leadership at the Republican Party of Minnesota performed brilliantly. I heard rumblings when the leadership at the Republican Party of Minnesota moved precinct caucuses to Super Tuesday. But nobody is complaining tonight. The decision to move precinct caucuses from March to tonight was simply brilliant. Caller after caller during tonight's radio show talked about the high turnout at precinct caucuses. Imagine if precinct caucuses were held in March.
I can't begin to describe how strategic it was for Republicans in Minnesota to move precinct caucuses from March to tonight. I proudly tip my hat to the staff and leadership at the Republican Party of Minnesota for a job well done.
Topics: MN GOP |
February 6th, 2008 at 1:35 am
The keystone cops at the state GOP office can’t pat themselves on the back, for a couple of reasons.
One, the Mark Ritchie types at GOP Central kept telling the media that the prec. caucuses started at 7 p.m. What they should have been saying is that the caucuses begin at 7 and people need to be there by 6:30 to register. We had long lines of people who followed the nincompoops advise and showed up, as instructed, at 7 p.m., missing much of the caucus as they snaked through the registration lines.
Two, though its true that the state GOP bureaucrats told the BPOUs to be ready for a larger than expected crowd, that’ all they said. There were no specifics about how many were expected and no instruction about how to prepare for a bigger than expected turnout. More incompentence, if more was needed, from the state GOP staff and jefe Ron Carey.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:36 am
And there’s the fact that the DFL more than doubled GOP turnout….
February 6th, 2008 at 1:40 am
For once, Feckless Jeff may have a point.
Look for the sun to come up on the west on Wednesday morning.
February 6th, 2008 at 6:26 am
“missing much of the caucus as they snaked through the registration lines.”
I believe the keystone cops would be your BPOU leaders. The BPOU I was at had about 4-5 times normal crowd.
No long lines, no issues. If you have the correct setup, no problem.
Plus the first half hour of the caucus is mostly unimportant stuff (make temporary permanent leaders etc…)
If you had issues at caucus, I would make sure those some organizers don’t run your BPOU convention.
As for turn out, you would have to under a rock not to expect a high turnout. Did you call the state party and ask them? Every press interview I heard with Carey said to expect around 30,000 though if you talked to them, they said the real estimate on low side in case of weather, so the press didn’t print story about how Republicans didn’t turn out.
As for how to handle it - again did your BPOU ask?
If your leaders don’t know how to handle a larger crowd, I would think about getting new leaders.
February 6th, 2008 at 7:42 am
I guess all the criticisms of the recent Minnesota poll were correct in using 53% as the DFL base in Minnesota. Last night 60,000 Republicans went out to caucus. Nice number. 200,000 Democrats went out to caucus. I guess it should have been a 77% base!
It also seems like the Republican voters rejected what their leaders told them to do. Former-VP candidate Pawlenty said vote McCain. Soon to be Former-US Senator Coleman said vote McCain. Soon to be Former Republican party chair vote Huckabee. Minnesota Republicans said screw you and voted for Romney.
A very very bad day to be a Minnesota Republican.
February 6th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Trompo, you are mistaken. Yes you are another liberal failure. It was the DFL leadership that told their people to get out and vote for McCain. In spite of that the best candidate, Mitt Romney, won. Once again the DFL is a defeated bunch of losers.
February 6th, 2008 at 7:55 am
Pete, what the hell are you talking about? What DFL leaders said to get out and vote McCain?
McCain got 13,000 votes last night. Clinton had 65,000 votes, Obama had 135,000.
Pawlenty, Coleman and Carey made it very clear who they were supporting. There were no secrets about that. The Republican voters of Minnesota clearly were not listening to their leaders.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:12 am
I think even more Republicans would have turned out if the voting hadn’t of been just a “beauty contest.” The Democrats actually used the vote to determine their proportion of delegates to the national convention. The Republican vote was simply not as important and meant almost nothing. The GOP needs to change this.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Hey Pete, what color is the sky in your world? You need to step away from the bong, kool-aid or whatever else is turning your brain to mush. Your vote for Romney did nothing for your party last night. You can’t deny the national results and your guy, Count Chocula, won’t be the GOP nominee.
February 6th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Say, buck?
ol’ Punky, er, ’scuse me, “pete”, reminds me o’ the black knight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKhEw7nD9C4
February 6th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Hey pudding butt, your up early! You must be in afternoon kindergarten.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Michael,
We can debate if it was a good decision to move the caucuses to February, but I do not think the state party deserves a pat on the back.
I talked to numerous folks this morning and every one said that their caucuses were very disorganized, there were not enough ballots (there were no ballots at my caucus), there were long lines, no directions on where to go and so on.
Sam,
You talk about have the correct set up and you are right, but unfortunately most caucuses last night didn’t have a set up at all. I do not put all of the blame on the volunteer leaders of the BPOU, I think the blame rests with the state party. They are the paid professionals who are supposed to know how to run a caucus.
The sad part about last night is that thousands of people who have never been involved in the Republican Party at the grassroots level saw the party at its worst and they will never attend a caucus again.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:32 am
You know what wasn’t Brilliant??? Your Gov. spending all that time in other states. Looks like he needed to work a little harder at home…kind of like how Session usually goes.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:42 am
“We can debate if it was a good decision to move the caucuses to February, but I do not think the state party deserves a pat on the back.”
You are correct - party leadership deserves a kick in the ass, and then they need to be kicked out the door.
Here in Eden Prairie, Democrats outdrew republiCons FOUR to one.
Let me repeat that: FOUR to one.
Four thousand DFL Caucus attendees, versus one thousand GOPers.
In EDEN PRAIRIE.
And why did the DFL kick GOPer ass?
‘Cause GOP LEADERSHIP caused GOP to now stand for GreedOverPrinciples, and the electorate recognizes it.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Question for the Dems. Why did you pick one candidate over the other?
Ours had a lot of anti RINO sentiment. Mitt won but I think we all have our doubts about his conversions.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Yes, imagine if the caucus had been in march, when things were still contested and Minnesota could have been the focus of the nation, like Wisconsin will be next week. The turnout would be even higher, and McCain might have even bothered to campaign in the state. This was a stupid decision that backfired against both parties. We could have meant something, instead we were just an afterthought.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Didn’t know there was a competion on which party would have the highest turnout. Naturally the Republican Party would lose that race as many of us have jobs and work hard, frequently into the evening. Don’t forget the DFL turnout would have been even higher if some hadn’t tried to sabotage the Republican caucus by going there to vote for McCain. They failed, as usual…
February 6th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Hmmm…. Rumors are flying that many DFL’ers did not get to cast a caucus vote! This was going on all over the states in last nights caucuses. Now, we all knew the kind of numbers Osama, er I mean Obama had been getting, was this part of the DNC’s plan to make sure Clinton got the nomination she paid for?
All the excitement for Osama, er I mean Obama and none of it will matter as the best the Clinton will allow him to have is a VP spot.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Swampfox — how do you know thousands will never show up again? At my precinct, the BPOU leaders had things running very smoothly. They did not have enough ballots (I don’t think anyone would have predicted such high turnout). Rather than panicking, the BPOU chair created extra ballots from pieces of copy paper — not rocket science.
I don’t think you can put all the blame on the State Party, how were they supposed to ensure that every BPOU Chair had a brain (and used it)?
February 6th, 2008 at 10:39 am
eightputt:
the point isn’t how many people turn out at the caucus. It’s how many that turn out on election day. In 2006 maybe 30,000 turned out for the Republican governor race (which I believe was dwarfed by DFL turnout) and the Senate. Tim got more votes than the DFL candidate for governor. so turnout out means squat! Especially if Hillary hangs on since part of that turnout was for the O guy and might not show up for Hillary in the general election.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
February 6th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Michael-
You might want to think about removing Racist comments by Big Kahuna (and others that may occur in the future).
February 6th, 2008 at 11:07 am
I agree with Not Fair Repub. And people wonder why America thinks Republicans are a bunch of racist rednecks. That comment is just SO witty
Also, Walter, democrats thumped Republicans in every race that their candidate didn’t melt down the week before the election. So turn-out clearly matters.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:09 am
state-wide elections obviously.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Please specify what is racist. I’ve re-read his post and find nothing racist there. Now, if you want racist you need to contact the Clinton campaign - there you have the real redneck racists.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Minny Mod,
To answer your question, how do you know thousands will never show up again?
Why would they? Their first exposure to the Republican Party caucus was disorganization, lack of ballots, conveners that did not know what to do, poor sign in, lack of appropriate space, meetings not starting on time, and so on. I saw several people get up and leave without voting and talked to several people who attended or their first time who said that would not attend again if this is how the caucus is run.
I am sure your BPOU ran very smoothly, but in talking to people from all over the metro today as well as reading many blog posts, your BPOU was the exception to the rule. You may not have had enough ballots; my BPOU did not have any ballots. There was no consistency between BPOUs and that goes back to the training they received.
I don’t think that all of the blame rests with the state party, but most of it does. The state party is paid to train the BPOU leaders on how to run a caucus. They should provide the BPOU with the materials they need to run the caucus. They should make sure that every BPOU chair has a brain by picking up the phone and making sure that every thing is ready. The BPOU leaders are volunteers, not professionals. The state party and the chairman are paid to give the BPOU leaders the training, support and materials they need. Do you disagree with that?
February 6th, 2008 at 11:32 am
They are talking about the Ossama Obama play. I hate it because I think its fear-mongering or tapping into a bias we collective have against Middle Easerners , not racebaiting. This is where would should “Ask a Black Man”, and see what they think.
I do know that now that it looks like McCain will get the nomination based on none-conservatives, BK will don dark glasses and trench coat and vote for Obama. He likes him and he knows it.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:35 am
They are talking about the Ossama/Obama play.
I hate it because I think its fear-mongering or tapping into a bias we collective have against Middle Easterners , not race-baiting.
I do know that now that it looks like McCain will get the nomination based on none-conservatives voting, BK will don dark glasses and trench coat and vote for Obama. He likes him and he knows it.
I think its hilarious that some think the DFL quadrupled its turnout record and yet, some still had the fortitude to go vote for McCain.
You guys are really in trouble. 2006 is going to look ok if that’s the case.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Why is it that you only find racist comments like Big KKKahuna’s on Republican blogs? And when you do, they have plenty of supporters. One would have thought this site would have learned something from the Tracist Eberley episode.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Say, Walter? Governor Pawlenty won re-election by 21,108 votes, out of 2,202,987 cast.
Peter Hutchinson pulled 141,735 votes.
I would submit Hatch’s meltdown, Dutcher’s E-85 gaffe, and Hutchinson’s candidacy were critical to T-Paw snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
These days, the numbers are looking really, Really, REALLY bad for the GOP.
Quite frankly, the way the GOPer “Purists” are in “purge” mode to rid the party of RINO’s, I’m surprised the GOP had the turnout it did.
But that doesn’t change anything; this is going to be a brutal election year for GOPers.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Big Kahuna, go to the bathroom, look in the mirror, and say “I’m racist and an idiot”.
February 6th, 2008 at 11:52 am
How many of those folks went to training that was offered?
They state provided training, materials and support.
If folks are to lazy or stupid to take advantage, do we really want the State checking up on each BPOU and forcing them to run it.
Your BPOU had no ballots - didn’t anyone think a day or two before elections - Hmmm, we don’t have any ballots wonder if we should do something.
Do you really think that the state should call ever BPOU and ask if they have ballots.
The party is supposed to run from Bottom up. The State provides the help, if you want it you can take it but if you don’t - then that is your choice.
If your BPOU was a mess, then I would look to new leaders at the next BPOU and CD convention.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I will definitely look for new BPOU leaders at the next convention and I would encourage others who had poor organization to do the same.
I look at Iowa and Nevada as examples of caucuses that ran well. The state parties set up an incredible apparatus the assist the local party organizations run their caucuses and they both went off without a hitch. I do think the state party should take a more proactive roll in the caucus process and make sure that BPOUs are ready to go on caucus night.
I have no doubt some people were lazy or inept when it came to running their caucus, it is just too bad that many first time caucus attendees will not come back and will not get involved at the grassroots level because of the Republican Party’s incompetence. Wouldn’t you agree?
February 6th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
In Sam’s world, the local BPOU officers are supposed to contact the Pioneer Press, Strib, Channel 4, etc. In so doing, the BPOU officers are supposed to instruct the media to tell their readers/viewers/listeners that people should come to the caucus before 7 p.m. and to ignore the the press releases they received from the state GOP that said that the caucus would start at 7 p.m.
Is that how it works, Sam? Did the state GOP party hold a seminar in which they specifically gave those instructions to the BPOU chairs?
February 6th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Tommy parrots the DFL line that Hutchinson cost Hatch the election.
Nonsense!
Look at the results from the top of the ticket to the bottom. Amy Klo, at the top, received X number of votes. The remaining DFL candidates, with one exception, got pretty close to that same number of votes.
The one exception, of course, is Hatch. The Amy Klo voters ignored him in droves and voted for someone else. Then, having gotten the Hatch out of their system, went down the line to vote for the DFL candidates for AG, SOS, and on down the line.
What happened to Hatch is that a large block of DFL voters and DFL leaning voters passed him by while voting straight ticket for the rest of the DFL ticket. Had only a small percentage of those voters not turned away from Hatch, we would be governor today. (A scary thought for sure.)
Hatch’s failure to win was not a result of Hutchison. It was a result of a block of DFLers not willing or able to vote for Hatch.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
For all of you who are going neg on the BPOU leaders and other volunteers who devoted energy and time to make the political process work for you and the rest of us, I sure as heck hope you were right there with them, on the front lines, working hard, helping caucus-goers find rooms, setting up tables and chairs, distributing caucus information, etc.. Because if you weren’t, then I see a lot of “Man in the Arena” awards that need to be awarded later today.
February 6th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
wtm,
Make no mistake, I am all for working at the grassroots level and I have been very active in politics here in Minnesota and elsewhere since 2000. And in an effort to move things along last night I volunteered to be a teller and helped people find their rooms.
The problem I have is that thousands of people attended their caucuses for the first time to find a disorganized mess. How are we supposed to get these folks more active in the political process when we can’t even manage to hold a caucus? Can you please answer that?
February 6th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
The BPOU chairs got plenty of information, materials, etc., and we were emailed THREE sets of ballots, as candidates were dropping out. We were even told to wait until the last moment to be sure our last ballot was the correct one. So, if the BPOU leader says they didnt’ get the materials or training, they’re either lying or not paying attention. There were training sessions all over the state, and the box we got at State Central contained pretty much everything we needed to run the caucus. the problem lies with the volume. I estimated ours would be about 5 or 6 times the normal turnout, so I printed materials to that effect. However, it was more like 8-9 times my normal turnout, including people who had never been to a caucus, which is fine, but who didn’t take the opportunity to read the materials we provided to answer their own questions.
Also, we haven’t had sizeable turnouts at caucuses for years. Four years ago we had an incumbent, and eight years ago it wasn’t a huge contest.
So, all factors combined, plus the fact that we can’t guarantee that everyone who came truly lives in our BPOU (and trust me, I’ll be checking everyone’s name and address against Voter Vault before my convention!) add up to an unpredictable volume of people, very few of whom knew anything about the process. I’ll be ecstatic if they stay involved AFTER this election; then I’ll know they’re serious about helping the party and the cause. Otherwise, I’ll count it as a fluke to get their presidential candidate ahead and nothing else. They also didn’t understand that this was not a primary, and that no delegates were ‘won’, and there’s not much we can do about that.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Thanks for the clarification, swampfox, and for your involvement, now and then, in the process.
Your point is fair and is one that needs to be considered when caucus preparations are made for 2010 and beyond. But, because Minnesota has not been a factor in picking Presidential nominees, most folks haven’t had experience dealing with that level of turn-out. As a result, what otherwise would have been well-run caucuses under a normal year appeared to be disorganized or poorly run because of system overload. Of course, high turn-out is a good, not bad, problem, and, as you suggest, won’t benefit the party in the long-term if first-timers were frustrated by the lack of ballots, delays, etc.
At this point, follow-up with those who attended the caucuses is going to be key to keep them involved.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
“The one exception, of course, is Hatch. The Amy Klo voters ignored him in droves and voted for someone else.”
And, who was that “someone else”, Stonewall?
Hutchinson, or T-Paw?
Amy K pulled 1,278,849 votes; Kennedy pulled 835,653
T-Paw pulled 1,028,568; Hatch pulled 1,007,460, and Hutchinson pulled 141,735.
SOS? Ritchie pulled 1,049,432
Auditor? Otto pulled 1,094,440
AG? Swanson pulled 1,131,474
Care to try another explanation, Stonewall?
‘Cause that one you just tried, don’t work here on terra firma.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
O’boy- the free cheese is coming!!!
February 6th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
redmama,
“I’ll be ecstatic if they stay involved AFTER this election; then I’ll know they’re serious about helping the party and the cause. Otherwise, I’ll count it as a fluke to get their presidential candidate ahead and nothing else.”
After this election? How about during this election? Why is it that no one really seems to cares about people who attended their caucus for the first time and had a bad experience? Who cares where they have been or why they came, at least they got active last night and they deserved the best the Republican Party had to offer, but many got the worst.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Thanks for the numbers, Tommy.
Those numbers prove my point.
Hatch ran 211,000 votes behind Amy Klo. You could expect that kind of drop-off down ballot. Hatch, however, was one slot below Amy. The drop-off has to be some sort of record for the difference between one slot on the ballot and the next one down.
Moreover, Hatch could not get the same number of people who voted DFL for AG, SOS, and Auditor to vote for him. All of those candidates outpolled him. If he had just got somewhere near those vote totals, he would have won.
My point: Don’t blame Hutch. Yah, sure, he was on the ballot. Blame the voters who voted for Amy Klo/Ritchie/Swanson/Otto but could not bring themselves to vote for Hatch. And, besides, we will never know for sure if those voters 1) cast their lot with Pawlenty, 2) voted for Hutch, or 3) skipped that race and went down the ballot to vote for the other DFLers.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Swampfox — sounds like you’re one of those who stand on the sidelines (or in the cheap seats), far from the field, and make critical comments without offering any suggestions for solutions.
For whatever reason, you seem to have an axe to grind with the state party leadership. Run for Chair or Deputy Chair in the next election. Apply for a job at Party headquarters.
Did you reach out to any of the first time caucus goers who you are sure will never come back?
I still can’t figure out how you reached your conclusion that “thousands” will never come back again — your sample size seems to be a few “folks” with whom you work. They are probably armchair quarterbacks like yourself.
My bet is you spend far too much time reading National Review blogs, listening to Rush/Hanity/Lewis — heck, you probably worship Hugh Hewitt and think Romney will be the next President.
I’d suggest you run for a leadership position in your BPOU or send your resume in to the state or national party to offer your services.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
don’t blame me - i voted constitution party.
February 6th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/02/03/a_conservatives_case_for_mccain/
February 6th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Stonewall, here’s the deal with T-Paw - he’s a genuinely likable guy.
Ya might not like his politics, and many don’t, but: personally, many of those that don’t like his politics still like him.
And the GOP successfully capitalized on that likeability, and contrasted that position by positioning Hatch as “the angry pitbull”.
It worked, and it worked because there was someone else to vote for.
Had Hutchinson not been on the ballot, it’s a safe bet at least 21,109 folk would have held their nose and voted for Hatch - which would have pushed Hatch over the top.
Hatch = 1,007,460
Ritchie = 1,049,432 (next lowest DFLer)
difference = 41,972
Hutchinson = 141,735 votes
Coincidence? Not so much….
February 6th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Last week, as I was pulling together all of the material (ballots, forms, etc.) that one needs for each individual precinct caucus, I called the state GOP HQ for guidance on how many (of each particular form) needs to go into each packet for each individual precinct meeting.
They could not give me a number. I full well understand that because the number would vary by precinct even within a BPOU. What astounded me is that they could not give me a percentage, e.g. 10 percent more than 2006, 20 percent more, etc.
So when MDE pats the state party staff (and by extension himself since the state party is a source of his income) on its collective back, I have to point out that there are those of us with no pecuniary interest in making money from the state party who don’t agree with his “good job” comment.
February 6th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Mini-golf,
“It worked” because Hatch made it work. Minnesota Nice does not comport with calling a reporter a “Republican whore.”
February 6th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Stonewall, are you sayin’ there’s some GreedOverPrinciples at work, here??!?
February 6th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Minny Mod,
“sounds like you’re one of those who stand on the sidelines (or in the cheap seats), far from the field, and make critical comments without offering any suggestions for solutions.”
You could make that assumption, but you would be wrong.
I have no axe to grind with the state party other than to say that we as a party had a great opportunity to impress thousands of new caucus attendees and let them know that we need them to participate in politics in 2008. Unfortunately that did not happen. Personally, I wish Ron Carey and the rest of the folks at the party nothing but success.
I did talk to several folks who said they will not attend again. I told them that we really need their help but they said that if this was the best we could do they would not be back. that is sad.
“I still can’t figure out how you reached your conclusion that “thousands” will never come back again”
Here is how I figure it, there are about 4,000 precincts in Minnesota. If just one person per precinct said that they will not come back because the caucus was a disaster, which would mean that thousands of people in Minnesota would never come back again. Just an educated guess on my part, nothing more .
“My bet is you spend far too much time reading National Review blogs, listening to Rush/Hanity/Lewis — heck, you probably worship Hugh Hewitt and think Romney will be the next President.”
I don’t read National Review’s blogs, but I do get their magazine. I do listen to Rush every once in a while. I do not care for Hannity or Lewis and have never listened to Hewitt. I don’t understand your point.
Can I ask why you feel the need to attack me personally? All I want to do is solve the problem and get more people involved? Or are we not supposed to talk about our shortcomings so we can improve the process? Should we just sit on the sideline like sheep?
February 6th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
I wonder how many of those thousands your concerned about were the DFL’ers that crossed over to vote for McCain. We had a high percentage of them at our caucus…
February 6th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
“Can I ask why you feel the need to attack me personally?”
Because that’s SOP, ever since Gingrich wrote “Language: A Key Mechanism Of Control”.
“All I want to do is solve the problem and get more people involved?”
What - you some kind of commie, or - even worse! - a RINO??!?
“Or are we not supposed to talk about our shortcomings so we can improve the process?”
There’s no room for losers in today’s GOP, pal - and if ya make mistakes, don’t let the door hit ya in the ass. It’s a small tent the GOPers own - and that’s the way they like it.
“Should we just sit on the sideline like sheep?”
No, you should SEND MONEY, and THEN sit on the sidelines, like sheep. Oh - and don’t forget to vote - for who you’re told to. Remember, you’re either with ‘em, or against ‘em. There’s no middle ground, in today’s GOP.
February 6th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
“I wonder how many of those thousands your concerned about were the DFL’ers that crossed over to vote for McCain. We had a high percentage of them at our caucus…”
Yeah, “right”.
If DFLers were gonna play that game, they’d have crossed over to vote for ol’ Multiple-Choice Mitt.
‘Cause Mitt is simply NOT electable, by the GOP rank and file.
Say, didn’t ol’ Multiple-Choice Mitt WIN, in MN??!?
You don’t suppose…..
Nah. Couldn’t happen, here….
February 6th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
No free cheese from that guy, I want the free cheese!!
February 6th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Pete:
Mccain got killed in my area and the state over all. That shows in Minnesota that we still care about ideas.
Eightputt:
Thanks for reinforcing my point about personality drives losses. We have been saying for weeks that Franken’s personality will cause a loss if he’s the DFL nominee. You retreat too personality issues on Hatch.
Furthermore more ballot position doesn’t matter. Yes Kennedy got killed, but every candidate on the Republican ballot polled better then Kennedy.
The difference in 2006 was that the Republican base was demoralized and didn’t turn out in numbers of the DFL.
This is why I’m saying that the turnout didn’t matter. We were much higher in the area where I was at it looked like people wanted to defend the principals of the Republican party. In 2006 we had lower interest and energy and that we have displayed and maybe too much confidence. It was kind of given we thought that Tim will easily as will our two constitutional officers. Furthermore I still think there is time if Mccain winds up being the candidate that he can increase his chances of winning.
There’s a larger base that understands the dangers this year. That’s the start we need.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
February 6th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Wow… Some of the comments on this board are pretty in your face. And that’s GOOD. People WANT in-your-face politics so that they feel informed and know what’s going on…
I went to a caucus for the first time last night. Everyone kept commenting about how there were so many young people coming out to the caucuses, and how they hoped those young people would still be around for the election. Are you kidding me? Of course they’ll be around!! My generation is thirsty for CHANGE… they’ll do anything they can to see that it happens.
I think it’s awesome that so many people my age (I’m 23) and younger are getting involved in the political process. It really needed to happen for the sake of future campaigns and elections. I mean, if no one in my generation cared about politics, then the government would pretty much be screwed in like 10-20 years… with everyone feeling apathetic toward the political scene. This election is inspiring young people AND people who don’t normally vote… it’s inspiring them to CARE. They are no longer taking for granted the freedom this country has to offer to its’ citizens. They want to be a part of where America is going and who will lead us there.
As for the disorganization surrounding last night’s caucuses… I think the people who were running them did the best they could with the materials they had. I don’t think anyone could have predicted how many people would show up. And if you think about it… it’s EXCITING that caucuses ran out of ballots and had long lines!!! It means that people CARE about what happens regarding the leadership of this nation.
Let’s look at the glass half-full, huh people? Don’t be so cynical.
February 6th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Why do we care about what everyone in the US thinks of MN? Maybe when we do our own thing and ignore the popularity contest, we will do what is best for MN. Until that happens, we’ll get more of the same crap from Carey and the crappy GOP leadership in this state.
February 6th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Blurb:
Keep in mind the only way to control the party is to control the election of Senate District officers or your equivalent and eventually these people vote on who run the party. Be a delegate and change it that way!
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
February 6th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Time for a Reality Check
-interesting
http://powerlineblog.com/
February 6th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Hey Tommy, Republicans can vote in the Democratic caucus too. Did you ever consider there plenty of Repulblicans out there voting for the person they thought would be most likely to lose to any Republican candidate? Oh, that’s right, you’re Demoncrat, and you’re not capable of thinking logically or rationally.
February 6th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
“We have been saying for weeks that Franken’s personality will cause a loss if he’s the DFL nominee.”
Yes, you HAVE been tryin’ to hang that on Al, but it’s simply not working; moreso, it’s reinforcing what I’ve been saying:
GOP LEADERSHIP doesn’t tell the truth, and the reasonable person simply cannot trust GOP LEADERSHIP.
Furthermore, if your party continues to try to hang that “Angry Al” crap on Franken, your party will - correctly - be seen as engaging in mean-spirited “character” assassination.
And that’s a losing strategy.
Now, compare your “Angry Al” strategy of PERSONAL attack with the “Norm ‘Smokescreen’ Coleman, R=Lapdog” JOB PERFORMANCE attack.
Norm’s probably a heck of a nice guy, but: he didn’t do his job. And that’s why he’s going to get “fired” this November.
February 6th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
That the best you can do, dogbreath?
February 6th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
ROFLMAO, well, it blew away your lame assertion. I don’t have to do any better.
February 6th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Ya know, dogbreath - from you, that’s not bad. But that’s only because with you, the bar is mighty (cheney)in’ low.
February 6th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
LOL, yeah, well that still puts me miles ahead of a REMF who spent his time in the service diddling LBFMs.
February 6th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Hey Eightputt:
This isn’t Ron Carey saying that is the strategy it’s plain sight and just listening to Al. Unfortunately for Al most of the voters in Minnesota don’t know the real Al. Of course Democrats don’t care about disgusting bad taste comments unless a Republican says them apparently.
And than Norm throws the supperior ideas.
By the way don’t you care that Al earned a liviing for a while by money stolen from boy and girls clubs>
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
February 6th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
Tommy,
Let me walk through your numbers one more time to see if got them right.
Amy got 271,000 more votes than Hatch. Hutch got 141,000 total. That reduces the number down to 130,000. Pawlenty got 22,000 more than Hatch. That reduces the number down to 109,000.
So if Hatch could have gotten about 1 vote out of that 109,000, he would have had one more vote than Pawlenty and would have won the election.
So, my point is this: Don’t blame Hutch. Blame the 109,000 Amy voters who did not cast a vote for Hatch.
February 6th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Big question… who the heck is “John Cox” who was the first name on the Republican ballot?
February 7th, 2008 at 6:58 am
That was then and this is now.
Norm’s record is what will get him fired in November.
Walter;
Why are you telling lies?
Al Franken was NOT involved in the B&G Club deal.
Your trying to link Al to those funds is like linking the employees of United Health to Mc Guire and his theft of funds by stock options.
Evan Cohan was the member( now former) of the Air America board who brokered the B&G club deal.
The borrowed funds were placed in an escrow account and should have been paid back by now.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:30 am
Actually, Stonewall, I blamed Hatch, ALONG with Hutch and the e-85.
Now, let’s look what you said, more than a few posts ago:
from post #34: “Look at the results from the top of the ticket to the bottom. Amy Klo, at the top, received X number of votes. The remaining DFL candidates, with one exception, got pretty close to that same number of votes. The one exception, of course, is Hatch.”
You are factually incorrect. There is a marked drop off from what Amy polled.
February 7th, 2008 at 7:34 am
Say, dogbreath?
Lick my jump boots, leg.
February 7th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Shouldn’t we blame Hatch for not being able to get those people to vote for him? Saying “don’t blame the candidate, blame the idiots who didn’t vote for him” is kind of a cop out. It isn’t the people’s fault they didn’t like Hatch, it is HIS fault.
February 7th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Well I am sorry I missed some of the fun yesterday.
It seems some get a tad upset with the Osama, er I mean Obama comment.
Some cry babies even go so far as to say it is “racist”.
Some news for you idiots in case you missed it, it was Mr. Ted Kennedy who started that!
In front of a very large crowd at that. Not only did he say “Osama, er I mean Obama, but even screwed up further by than saying “Obama Bin..” before he finally caught himself. 
Those of you who are upset by this show your insecurity of Mr. Osama, er I mean Obama as your candidate.
Fear not, The whole Osama, er I mean Obama thing was cute and all, but if you think he ever had a chance against the Clinton machine, you were as fooled as twopudd is about any subject.
Twopudd, you talk about being TOLD who to vote for which I find funny as that is what I have been saying will happen to democRats.
You WILL BE TOLD to vote for Hitlery. 
She bought and paid for this nomination and you foolish little activist just best get on board with this and show your love for Hitlery. 
February 7th, 2008 at 9:15 am
“Hitlery” as you call her… is going to get her ass kicked by OBAMA… at least in this beautiful state of Minnesota. So shove it, you moron.
February 7th, 2008 at 9:16 am
I was bothered by it and posted as such, and I am a Republican, so what is your excuse there?
Making fun of a person’s ethnic name is racist, there is no two ways about it. Even if Ted Kennedy made a mistake first, it still makes us all look bad when you continue to repeat it. And it does come off as fear mongering. I’d prefer if people like you weren’t on my side.
February 7th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Not only are they on your side; they’re the public face of your side. They’re also the LEADERSHIP of your side.
And they’re the ones on your side, purging your side of moderate, reasonable Republicans.
You know, RINO’s?
February 7th, 2008 at 9:28 am
HC DFL:
I didn’t lie. Air America was funded in part by funds that were taken from the boys and girls club. Hopefully that money has now been replaced. The point is that Air America was so incapable of drawing an audience and advertisers that they fund by rich donors or stealing. Thus the quality of Franken’s job is questionable. People might attack Rush, but he gets 20 million
listeners a week and his commercials are sold out. So why did you lie about me there!
Norm’s record won’t get him fired in November. It’s nice to know that you agree with me that ideas matter (hint eight putt Tommy), and if the Republicans run on ideas we will have a great November sorry to disappoint you HCDFL. Norm understands that!
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
February 7th, 2008 at 9:35 am
TwoPutt,
Your defense of Franken is so funny, I can’t stop laughing. Only in your world is it perfectly “Minnesota Nice” for a guy to make fun of a college kid. Only in your world is it “Minnesota Nice” for a guy to cock his fist at a radio talk show producer. Only in your world is it “Minnesota Nice” to make off color jokes aboht gays. Yeah, that Al Franken is really a nice Minnesota boy.
February 7th, 2008 at 10:18 am
Tommy,
When you are right, you are right.
My first premise, with regard to Hatch and Hutchinson, was off.
Thanks to your good work in supplying the numbers, I see now that there were 108,000 votes, even with Hutch in the race, that Hatch could have picked up and won the election.
He did not pick up any of those 108,000. All he needed was to pick up 1 of those votes. So for Hatch, or anyone else for that matter, to blame Hutch for Hatch’s loss is wrong-headed.
February 7th, 2008 at 11:14 am
CCK, you poor baby, I had no idea I would offend you.
my bet is you are no Republican or at the very least, not a conservative.
All the names we have had to hear about President Bush and every other Republican by our liberal friends here, the Osama, er I mean Obama line is a little payback.
Like I said, it is the insecurity of folks like you that gets concerned over that slip up on the name.
You know as well as I do Osama, er I mean Obama will have to deal with thousands who will buy into the name issues and his inexperience. 
The far left base of the democRats LOVE the guy and get very upset over any negativity sent his way. 
Everyone has given him a free pass up to now, which I think is due to the fact the press knows as well as the Clinton machine, that this whole Osama, er I mean Obama histeria was never meant to be anything other than a subject for the press to focus on to give cover for Hitlery.
SCAindecisive Says:
February 7th, 2008 at 9:15 am
“Hitlery” as you call her… is going to get her ass kicked by OBAMA… at least in this beautiful state of Minnesota. So shove it, you moron.
Who is the moron here?
Good for you big fella, you went and cast your vote for Osama, er I mean Obama. 
Without wuestion the best he could hope for is a VP spot with Hitlery. 
She paid for this nomination and damn all you activist is you do not get on board and show your love for Hitlery.
You will be told to vote for a Clinton, and you will do so and act happy about it.
I do get a kick out of the locals who actually thought they had a say in their party as to who will get the nomination.
Silly wabbits. 
February 7th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Well, ya know, Stonewall, I said from the beginning that Hatch himself was a problem.
And people need to give credit where credit is due, and Governor Pawlenty deserves a LOT of credit.
Personally, I really liked the posititions Peter Hutchinson took and stood for; personally, I’d like to see Minnesota adopt Instant Runoff Voting wo a vote for a guy like Hutchinson really IS a vote for a guy like Hutchinson, and not a vote against one of the big two.
It’s my NSHO that had IRV been in place, Hutchinson would have pulled a LOT more votes, than he did.
February 7th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
So there you have it, CCK. You call out one of your own for racism, rightly so I might add, and what’s his response? That you must not be a Republican or a conservative since you happen to disagree with his tactics.
I certainly wouldn’t worry about it, however. He’s just another messageboard tough guy and loon that happens to have thing for smiley faces. At least he didn’t tell you to go lie by your dish which seems to be his only other fall-back retort.
February 7th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Say, buck?
You don’t think that that rightwingnut is really a Dean plant, sent here to make republiCons look really, Really, REALLY stupid, do ya?
‘Cause if Dean really DID send him here, this guy’s doin’ a heck of a job….
February 7th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Bucky, no love??
Actually I say he must not be a Republican nor Conservative because he seems to have thin liberal skin.
You see we hav