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MUST READ FROM THE PIONEER PRESS: “MAYBE MIKE CIRESI WAS JUST TOO REGULAR A GUY FOR HIS PARTY”
By Michael B. Brodkorb | March 12, 2008
This column from Joe Soucheray about Mike Ciresi is a must read.
"Ciresi apparently agreed and dropped out Monday. Ciresi also ran for the Senate in 2000 and was handily trounced by Mark Dayton. He lent himself some cash in that one, too. I don't get it. And that's what I wanted to ask Ciresi. I wanted to ask him why his party couldn't warm up to him. His people at his law firm couldn't find him, but Leslie Sandberg, Ciresi's communications director, said: 'Mike has decided to return to private life immediately. He wished to avoid a floor fight, and he dropped out with class.' A Norm Coleman-Ciresi contest would have truly required some heavy decision-making, some actual critical thinking. Franken-Coleman is a no-brainer. In that contest Coleman is the steady hand, the true Minnesotan, the guy who has never been fined for not paying his worker's compensation insurance. Nelson-Pallmeyer, it turns out, has failed to insure his employed staff workers, but his campaign is working on it. And Franken put his best accountant on the job to find out why his corporation didn't pay the insurance in New York from 2002 to 2005. I bet Ciresi has paid his worker's comp bills. I bet his driver's license is up to date, too, and his parking tickets are all paid. He is pretty normal, is what it amounts to. Ciresi-Coleman, now there would have been something worth examining. Ciresi's polling numbers with likely voters were up to par. He just couldn't generate the delegate support." Source: Pioneer Press, March 12, 2008 Click here for the complete column.
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20 Responses to “MUST READ FROM THE PIONEER PRESS: “MAYBE MIKE CIRESI WAS JUST TOO REGULAR A GUY FOR HIS PARTY””
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March 12th, 2008 at 10:16 AM
“Probably, it’s that relative normalcy that cooks him every time. He just isn’t far enough to the left for the activists who run his party.”
That’s a dandy conclusion, except Ciresi attacked Franken from the left on Iraq and other issues. As usual, Soucheray (and MDE) make up facts to support the convenient conclusion.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Ha! DFL Party: Moderates need not apply #gazillion.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:35 AM
It is true! if you are not moonbat crazy left, the local DFL cannot use you.
I love all the lefties here who were all worked up about the corssover 6 losing their support, yet just look at what the democrats did to Liberman.
DFL – the party of hypocrissy.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:04 AM
It’s not that Ciresi was normal – it’s that he didn’t pander and make a bunch of shit up depending on who the audience was.
Dems tend to think that yelling/being hated by the Right = Liberal. And Franken yells and is hated by the Right. But his views, well, suck. What’s going on with his 50-state healthcare plan, anyway?
Ciresi, on the other hand, had great policies but didn’t feel like villifying the Right. And he wasn’t on SNL, either. So that means that the Left doesn’t give a shit about him. Except for the minority of Dems who actually think.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:32 AM
I have been hearing rumors floated by team Franken that Ciresi will be doing an endorsement at the Humphry day dinner this weekend. Talk about the tail wagging the dog! It takes some guts to try to make something like that happen by using the back door approach to put pressure on someone. From what I have heard from my friends at the DFL, Ciresi has pulled his sponsorship of the night and will not even be attending. In addition to that, a two year old who has been listening to the debate between Ciresi and Franken would know that Mike thinks Al is a no talent ass clown that needs to go back to NY. If team Franken doesn’t want to get totally embarrassed in the general election they would be wise to spend less time trying to manipulate stories and more time working out policies and putting to rest issues like Al supporting the war! Lets go over the facts once more so it doesn’t get passed anyone: Ciresi will not be going to the dinner. Ciresi will never endorse Al (or probably anyone at this point). Team Al needs to pull there heads out of his arse as they are pushing all of us moderates towards Coleman.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:34 AM
Maybe Mike Ciresi was just 2 regular a guy 4 his party.
2 + 4 = 6
Six (6) who voted in favor of overriding a veto.
The PAW CLAWS came out.
Mike Ciresi runs a successful law firm, donates money through his public and private foundations, and leads a well-balanced life.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:45 AM
Yeah, right, Joe Soucheray would have considered voting for a multimillionaire trail lawyer Democrat? Nice try, Joe. And Mikey.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Franken – client #10-what a loser, just what the DFL like.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:23 PM
The two candidates are Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and Al Franken. Former MN Governor, Jesse the Body Ventura, loved the MN Press so much that a combined mixture of the press and the candidates could jokingly be called:
Jack-al Frank-meyer
Joe Soucheray’s first sentence in his column today states, “Mike Ciresi is a tough guy, for a bantamweight, and not a bad guy, not a bad guy at all.”
When post #7 states doesn’t think that a person would not “CONSIDER” voting for a person who runs a successful law firm, is a Democrat, and donates much money through public and private foundations, within the confines of the SPECIAL AMERICAN SPACE of the VOTING BOOTH, after reading the specific column (3-12-2008), I think that Soucheray Exposure should go back and carefully re-read [or perhaps just read] the column again.
March 12th, 2008 at 12:51 PM
It’s hard to believe Joe gets paid to write this crap. He should go back in the garage and work on his shitty 80′s Trans Am.
March 12th, 2008 at 1:38 PM
Soucheray is spot on. Ceresi is a decent guy. A respectable democrat. He’s wrong on a bunch of issues but nonetheless a class act. You would expect nothing less from a Cadet.
March 12th, 2008 at 2:03 PM
Mike Ciresi has a wealth of experience and a history of giving back to Minnesota. He was one of the last moderate voices of the DFL, and now that Al Franken will get the nomination, we will see an ugly and brutal election between Norm Coleman and Franken that will only further divide the two parties. This is not what we need, this is not where we should be going. Mike Ciresi would have made it an election about the issues and the best candidate to get things done. Al Franken will attack and scream at Coleman for being a republican and Coleman will attack Al for being a joke with a terrible temper who came back to Minnesota because he wanted to be a Senator. What a shame.
March 12th, 2008 at 2:27 PM
Karl Rove was broadcast [or re-broadacast] on the radio Saturday specifically using “angry” and generally emphasizing Patrick Black’s specific point “terrible temper.”
Things look as though they are shaping up to be “an ugly and brutal election” as Patrick puts it.
March 12th, 2008 at 2:50 PM
Last November 19th, Rush Limbaugh was talking about the November ’08 election, and he proclaimed (and I quote):
***”It’s going to be a vicious, dirty, mean campaign to rival none other. It’s going to outdo anything that we’ve ever seen. It’s going to be exciting for people like me. It’s going to be frustrating for people who get turned off by that kind of stuff in politics, be up to people like me to keep ‘em interested. We’ll do that. Future of the country, including national security. Make book on it.” ***
Yes, Rush Limbaugh is proclaiming he’s excited that dirty politics are in the future.
http://www.mnblue.com/node/996
Seems the GOPers like it down an’ dirty…..
March 12th, 2008 at 3:10 PM
Soucheray Exposer,
When did Ciresi become a “trail lawyer” (see comment #7)?
Did he join up with the famous funnies hero Mark Trail to start the lawfirm of Ciresi-Trail?
March 12th, 2008 at 4:15 PM
I assure you all that Franken will rally many democrats, but repel any possible moderates or independents once Coleman and the republicans begin to show the sound bites, transcripts, and video clips of the Al Franken we all know is waiting to boil over from underneath. We are going to see Franken go down in flames and many democrats with a serious case of buyer’s remorse. One of the reasons why Mike appealed to me was not because he was moderate on his policies (in fact, he is much more progressive than Franken), it was because he did not participate in the Bush-bashing, name-calling, and bitter attacks; and he would have actually been able to work with republicans to get things done. That would have been nice for a change.
March 12th, 2008 at 4:41 PM
Soucheray talked about this on Garage Logic yesterday too. I found his comments interesting and actually a little suprising. I listen every day and Joe was very serious that the choice would have been very hard for him had Ceresi been the nominee vs. Coleman.
He cited the fact that he is an active Minnesotan who actually lives he and contributes to life here. That he’s not a nut job.
Obviously he’s not a nut job like Franken. Joe commented how different Ceresi is from Franken and Ellison. How he pays his taxes, worker’s comp, parking tickets, keeps his license up to date. The point he was making is Dems are for some reason shying away from the mainstream types and going radical. The same thing happened in the endorsement battle for the %th after Sabo. Plenty of Liberal yet sensible candidates and the Dems wne for the kook. yeha they won, but Minnesota did not.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:38 PM
MANY people recognized that MIKE appealed to MANY MAINSTREAM voters with in the MINNESOTA MIDDLE.
March 13th, 2008 at 3:31 AM
“Ciresi-Coleman, now there would have been something worth examining,” makes some sense.
Writing about a guy being just too regular, perhaps could be construed as an ad for peptol bismol, or pushing something with a little higher octane.
March 13th, 2008 at 6:22 PM
Homiefro and Punxsutawney Phil, now there is something worth examining in that they both don’t seem to show up very often.
In February when Punxsutanwney Phil prognosticates, many people, young and old, watch and listen for fun.
[The older folks seem to take the whole Ground Hog Day situation seriously but, just for a little while.]
There will continue to be news reports, and newspaper stories that highlight some of the blogs and blog comments such as blog house in the StarTribune.
The name of Mike Ciresi may occasionally surface, especially if the Franken vs Coleman, or Nelson-Pallmeyer vs Coleman contests start running negative very fast.
Someone’s personal attendance, and/or a senate candidate’s, and/or a former senate candidate’s, personal attendance at a Humphrey Day dinner depends on many factors.
I would think that the same was true of the birthday parties thrown in honor of Rudy B.
Homiefro is entitled to his/her opinions but, if he/she saw his/her shadow yesterday, it might be a relaxing idea to think about spending the next six (6) weeks drinking cool ones, eating chocolate, and/or in general, unwinding.