Liberal in the Land of Conservative

“I am terminating my campaign for Congress,” he said in a statement. “This is obviously not an easy decision for me, but I have come to the conclusion that it’s the right one.”

“First and foremost, I want to thank El Tinklenberg for his dedication to public service. He has worked hard on behalf of the citizens of the sixth district and this state as Mayor of Blaine, State Transportation Commissioner and as a Congressional Candidate. El is a tremendous public servant. I wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

"From day one, El and I have shared the common goal of changing the 6th District's representation in Congress. El knows first-hand from his work just how much is at stake for the working families and small businesses across Minnesota. I thank El for his dedication and public service, and know he will continue to be a leader in our community."

1. With Maureen Reed, every indication I am hearing is that apart from her large fund raising numbers she is dead in the water. Don't get me wrong, I like Dr. Reed and would have no trouble supporting her but for one reason or another the people I have contacts with have already counted her out of the endorsement. Does this mean that Reed is really gunning for the IP candidacy? Will she abide by the DFL endorsement? If she were to lose that endorsement, then will she run as an IP candidate or put her name on the DFL primary ballot?

2. Elwyn Tinklenberg appears to have two hurdles to overcome: First, to convince people throughout the district who recall that big blue paw print on his '08 campaign site touting the endorsement by the Blue Dog Coalition that he is NO LONGER a Blue Dog Democrat. Second, much like Reed, there are increasingly loud questions about why he has chosen to ignore the DFL endorsement and take this race to a primary. All of my sources who might have supported him before are abandoning ship because of this decision. Why would Mr. Tinklenberg tell the entire DFL establishment in the district that he will ignore their decision? Could I support Tinklenberg? Sure, but right now his answers to these questions concern me.

3. Tarryl Clark, from EVERYTHING I am hearing, is the early leader in the initial endorsement process. Her one disadvantage might be her initial fund raising which will have to catch up with her competitors. As she has not been very public yet I do not know what her stance is on honoring the endorsement process but given the questions surrounding Reed and Tinklenberg it would interesting to hear what she intends.

UPDATE: h/t to Blue Man on this one...

The Clark website is up with a youtube video message:



Clark makes it clear in the video that she WILL abide by the DFL endorsement which could be an indication that she has called around the district and all but locked up the delegates she needs to win.

“We are living through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, with staggering numbers of people unemployed, health care out of the reach of many folks, and thousands of Minnesotans losing their businesses and homes,” said Dr. Reed. “While these problems are tough, I’m running for Congress because I know two things are true. First, Americans can solve tough problems. Second, a bright future is not accidental. We create a bright future when we put rhetoric aside, focus on the real problems, and work hard together. This is exactly what I’ve done all my life. The future I see is one of business expansion, job growth, home ownership and lower health care costs.”

1. The 1st thing the Dems have to do is quit blaming every loss on the Independent candidate. Bachmann‘s margin of victory was 3 points less than in 06 against a much better funded candidate in 06. Tink gained 2 plus points over the 2nd Wetterling race. Anderson gained 3 plus points over Binkowski. The only person who lost points to the IP candidate was Bachmann and trust me, most of those people will NEVER vote for a democrat. You would have to assume that 71% of the people who voted IP would have voted for Tink in order to be correct that the IP had something to do with the Bachman victory.

2. If you are going to ignore the central part of the district and settle for less than 40% of the vote in Wright, Sherburne and Benton counties then you are going to have to get Mpls type of numbers out of the rest of the district. You simply have to put more boots on the ground in these areas. If you are going to put offices in St. Cloud , Stillwater, Blaine then you also need headquarters in Buffalo, Big Lake, Ham Lake etc..

So here's an idea...perhaps even a bold one.

So instead of posting photo shopped pictures and edited You Tube videos putting orgy and government wads together, why don't we actually work in a grassroots effort to organize our communities.

Seriously, I'm I the only one who looked at the Bachmann tax day video and noticed that orgy/government wad portion of said video was spliced together like a 3 year old playing Operation?

Mocking Michele Bachmann gets us nowhere.

Running an "anyone but Bachmann campaign" gets us nowhere.

Attacking the "soccer mom" gets us nowhere.

It only gets us 2 more years of Bachmann.

Bachmann will continue to do damage to herself in the mainstream media.

While we should ensure that her insane comments are disseminated, we have no need to doctor them to make them even more "juicy". She does that well enough.

We should talk about Bachmann's voting record and how her values are not congruent with her rhetoric.

Last but not least, leadership needs to get off its ass. I caught this wonderful quote earlier in the week.

The district is the most Republican in the state and will be an extremely difficult race for any Democrat. But Schumaker believes Tinklenberg would have won in 2008 if not for the presence of another (non-endorsed) IP candidate on the ballot, Bob Anderson, who garnered 10 percent of the vote. “For whatever reason the information was not put out there that El Tinklenberg was endorsed by both parties,” she says.

"For whatever reason..."

Really? WTF?

Tinklenberg was endorsed by the IP on June 22, 2009. You mean to tell me that neither Tinklenberg nor the 6th CD DFL took the time over the remaining 4 1/2 months from the IP endorsement to stress the endorsement.

"For whatever reason...?"

Maybe if...now this is a big maybe...they hadn't spent the waning weeks of the campaign still introducing Tinklenberg to voters, they would have known he was endorsed by BOTH the DFL and the IP.

Going back through the Blueman history of Tinklenberg campaign ads, none of the ads I found had any mention of Tinklenberg's cross endorsement of the DFL and IP.

So, stop blaming the IP for Tinklenberg losing in 2008.

We lost because we gambled and lost. We ran shitty campaigns in Wright and Sherburne Counties and could not capitalize on the cash cow caused by the pandemic known as the Bachmann 2008 virus.

Reading the tea leaves, it's pretty obvious that Elwyn Tinklenberg is going to take another shot at Congresswoman Bachmann.

I know of one dark horse at this time, someone not on our collective radar's who might take a shot at this...and I could definitely support him/her.

DFLer Ashwin Madia narrowly bests GOP former Rep. Erik Paulsen mostly because the 3rd District Republican party scared better, more ideologically moderate GOP candidates out of the race. This is a painful loss for the state GOP which has proudly held this seat for decades with strong, smart, social issues-moderate leadership in Bill Frenzel and Jim Ramstad.

The good news for Republicans going forward is that because the Democratic National Congressional Committee spent so much time and effort on this race, Madia will be beholden to casting liberal party-line votes, making 2010 an attractive run for Republicans who opted out in 2008.

DFL challenger Elwyn Tinklenberg beats one-term GOP incumbent U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann and sends Chris Matthews a bottle of Dom. What were Bachmann's advisers thinking by allowing her to go on MSNBC with Matthews? What was Bachmann thinking by using "anti-American" in her words? Channeling former GOP WI Sen. Joseph McCarthy was red meat on a platter for the left. Let the 2010 GOP fun begin on who will run against Tinklenberg in a seat he should never have won.

Why does the ad feel strange? Because Bachmann is trying to do two very different things at once. For those people who are aware of the "Hardball" incident, she wants to express remorse for what she said. For those people who have no idea about the "Hardball" imbroglio, Bachmann wants to make sure it stays that way and so makes no direct reference to why she would be apologizing for not always using the right words to explain herself.

Immelman lost to Bachmann in the Republican primary in September. He says the one thing he will not do is ask Democrats to vote for him. He says he wants his candidacy to be a Republican referendum on Bachmann and the direction the party has taken the country.

Don’t fall into the meme that the media and Obama campaign are desperate to have you bite on. Barrack Obama and many fringe liberals do not like what America is all about. Most just passively whisper it, some exercise free speech and protest, but others like Ayers and Wright, cross a line.

Michelle Marston, spokeswoman for Bachmann's reelection campaign, said it's "perfectly legitimate for the American people to want to know how all this informs his policy positions and what direction an Obama Administration would want to lead the nation."