Liberal in the Land of Conservative

It was a fabulous night for Democrats as Barack Obama took back the White House and expanded the map beyond what many thought was possible. Although the House and Senate gains were less than we had hoped, it was a very ambitious strategy and the reality is that you cannot win them all.

The one disappointment of the evening is that for all of the money and campaigning that took place across Minnesota to send more Democrats to Congress, the numbers look to remain unchanged with Erik Paulsen defeating Ashwin Madia and Michele Bachmann defeating Elwyn Tinklenberg.

Locally, my good friend Larry Haws will remain one of my favorite legislators and continue to annoy my right wing nemesis, Gary Gross. While we were unable to bring Joanne Dorsher, Rob Jacobs, and Steve Andrews into the fold the reality is that these are very difficult districts for the DFL to compete in. Regardless of all that they put up valiant efforts and should be commended.

There were a couple rays of hope for the DFL here in conservative country and they took place in the heart of the empire, Senate District 16. Gail Kulick-Jackson was able to eak past a former public educator who has turned out to be one of the most vocal anti-public education legislators. By a bare bones 89 vote margin, Gail was finally able to take down Sondra Erickson turning the northern half of SD 16 blue. The other ray of hope has much to do with the deranged mission of one Mark Olson. He and his supporters deserve a big thank you for taking a principled stand in favor of domestic violence which shaved off an almost certain Krueger win into a squeeker win for Lisa Fobbe. I would encourage Mark to continue his crusade against the Republican Party in Senate District 16 by running against Mary Kiffmeyer next time around! With his help, we can turn the entire area blue...