Frustration of an Indepent(s)

As many of you know I live in Minnesota and I am a supporter of the MN Independence Party. Our candidate for governor, Tom Horner, http://www.horner2010.com/ has this past week been endorsed by practically every paper in the state, several former governors and has been gaining some traction in some polls but today the President came to Minneapolis to have a campaign rally for the Dem. Mark Dayton and Bill Clinton is supposed to come out to. On top of that the Repub. Tom Emmer has had Newt Gingrich come to town and both the D and the R are pouring tons of money into this race along with outside groups. Horner isn't going to be able to run TV ads until this week but in for the past few weeks outside interest groups have been running attack ads, targeting both Dayton and Horner from the Right, and Emmer and Horner from the Left so we are being hit from both sides of the ideological spectrum.

Pardon me for falling into campaign mode but I find this particularly frustrating as the Tom Emmer the Repub. is essentially a Right Wing ideologue who back in July said that we should reconsider minimum wage because waiter earn up $100,000 a year while Mark Dayton is simply awful. A scion of the wealthy Dayton family (Target Corp) who's hobby is running for office and by his own assessment one of the worse US Senators who stepped down after one term since even he felt he was hurting the Dems. Horner is a former Repub. consultant who has worked with Dems and is proposing a balanced approach that has been widely praised by almost every former MN Governor and even by many in both the D and the R camps.

What bothers me though is just because Dayton has "D" in front of the name you have Obama coming in town to support him. I mean if Dayton wins as a governor he can't help Obama in Congress and given Dayton's track record may prove an embarrassment to Democrats in MN and beyond. This just seems like outside interests are pouring money and endorsments into this race without knowing much about the candidates but just because of the parties they belong too.

Sorry for the long rant but just needed to vent.

 

Yes there are state House and Senate seats in play but from my understanding the Democrat majorities will likely still hold. In regard to redistricting the last two redistrictings in MN have been decided by the courts and it wouldn't surprise me if that happens again this time. There are two somewhat contested US House races (the Bachmann-R seat, and Walz-D seat) That said this was a rally specifically to support the gov candidate. I wasn't at the rally so I have no idea how much was made to support Clark running against Bachmann and Walz probably didn't attend as his district is one where Obama lost to McCain.

As you note MN isn't TX and neither D or R has been able to dominate redistricting recently, in the last round the IP even had a say with Ventura as governor. Also as noted Dayton is awful while Horner isn't a Dem. he isn't reflexively opposed to Obama and in regard to dealing with the Federal government will more likely be an ally or at least a rational opponent.

Obama's visit just seems like a reflexive reaction the same as outside groups pumping money and endorsements without knowing much about the candidates other than the party affiliation to the detriment of MN.

 

Keep in mind I live in a state that not that long ago had an Independent governor.

At that time we also had a terrible Democrat, which seems to be a trend for the last 20 years for governor, and while not an awful Repub. one who at the time wasn't very popular (Norm Coleman). The national parties stayed largely out of the race then.

 

That is probably so has from what I saw of a lot of the President's speech wasn't so much praising Dayton but defending the Admin's record and warning about the peril of the Repubs taking over. In other words his basic stump speech. That doesn't make me feel much better as Horner pretty much supported the Health Care Bill and the stimulus.

Anyway I understand the political realities that D's will support D's and R's will support R's without that much thought and I am mostly just venting. Still it seems like this election there has been way more outside endorsements and money poured into this governor's race than any before.

 

Just for reference here is an article regarding the current political situation in MN and WI. As noted in the article the Democrats aren't really in that much trouble in MN so Obama probably would've been better off making another trip to Madison or Milwaukee to try to support Feingold than rallying for Dayton.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39801872/ns/politics-decision_2010

GOP storm bears down on Wis., may pass by Minn.
Electoral winds are blowing in opposite directions in Upper Midwest states

For the last half-century, retiree Georgi Anderson consistently voted for Democrats in Wisconsin. It was a party, she says, that "stood for something better. They were on the side of the working man."

Not anymore. Anderson plans to vote Republican down the line Nov. 2, snubbing a Democratic Party she says has changed for the worse. If polls are right, Anderson is part of a cresting wave that could turn Wisconsin bright red just two years after a Democratic landslide.

It's a different story next door in Minnesota, where Republicans are clawing to make gains in Congress in what is supposed to be a Republican year. And they're still struggling to close ranks around their party's nominee for governor.

"We left the best horses in the barn," says a dispirited Dan Dorman, a southern Minnesota tire dealer and former GOP lawmaker considering staying home on Election Day. "I don't know what the heck I'm going to do."
For the last half-century, retiree Georgi Anderson consistently voted for Democrats in Wisconsin. It was a party, she says, that "stood for something better. They were on the side of the working man."

Not anymore. Anderson plans to vote Republican down the line Nov. 2, snubbing a Democratic Party she says has changed for the worse. If polls are right, Anderson is part of a cresting wave that could turn Wisconsin bright red just two years after a Democratic landslide.

It's a different story next door in Minnesota, where Republicans are clawing to make gains in Congress in what is supposed to be a Republican year. And they're still struggling to close ranks around their party's nominee for governor.

"We left the best horses in the barn," says a dispirited Dan Dorman, a southern Minnesota tire dealer and former GOP lawmaker considering staying home on Election Day. "I don't know what the heck I'm going to do."
For the last half-century, retiree Georgi Anderson consistently voted for Democrats in Wisconsin. It was a party, she says, that "stood for something better. They were on the side of the working man."

Not anymore. Anderson plans to vote Republican down the line Nov. 2, snubbing a Democratic Party she says has changed for the worse. If polls are right, Anderson is part of a cresting wave that could turn Wisconsin bright red just two years after a Democratic landslide.

It's a different story next door in Minnesota, where Republicans are clawing to make gains in Congress in what is supposed to be a Republican year. And they're still struggling to close ranks around their party's nominee for governor.

"We left the best horses in the barn," says a dispirited Dan Dorman, a southern Minnesota tire dealer and former GOP lawmaker considering staying home on Election Day. "I don't know what the heck I'm going to do."
Who was at the wheel?
The political split among the two states may come down to who was at the wheel when the economy turned south. Unemployment soared to 9.6 percent in Wisconsin last year at a time when Democrats ran everything; it flirted with 9 percent in Minnesota where Pawlenty was the lead face in a divided government.

But when the desire for change took hold in Wisconsin, it did so with a vengeance. Thousands of the disenchanted turned out for tea party rallies across the state supporting stridently conservative candidates. Many of those Republican candidates now lead heading into the election.
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The Tea Party brewed in Minnesota, too, but hasn't really become a political force.

State Rep. Tom Emmer, the Republican nominee for Minnesota governor, has Tea Party appeal but hasn't robed himself with the movement. Polls show Emmer trails in a bid to retain the Minnesota governor's seat for the GOP, the party's only existing lever of state power. And there's a distinct possibility Republicans could be shut out of statewide office altogether for the first time in 32 years.

Minnesota Republicans find themselves fractured over what to do about the state's budget — whether to continue to aggressively cut costs at the expense of social programs and other priorities, or to return to the moderate approach once favored by the party. Some prominent moderates are so embittered that they are refusing to back the party nominee in November.

Emmer, a tough-talking conservative, has promised to continue Pawlenty's signature no-new-tax approach, vowing to fix a nearly $6 billion deficit solely by curbing spending. Dayton, meanwhile, says he'd raise taxes on the wealthy.

The prominent Republicans choosing to support a third-party candidate, Tom Horner, a former GOP strategist, and spurn Emmer include former Govs. Arne Carlson and Al Quie, former Sen. David Durenberger and former state party Chairman Bill Morris. When a group of middle-of-the-road GOP legislators recently followed suit, state party Chairman Tony Sutton caused a stir by denouncing them as "quislings," a word linked to a Norwegian Nazi collaborator.
Minnesota Republicans find themselves fractured over what to do about the state's budget — whether to continue to aggressively cut costs at the expense of social programs and other priorities, or to return to the moderate approach once favored by the party. Some prominent moderates are so embittered that they are refusing to back the party nominee in November.

Emmer, a tough-talking conservative, has promised to continue Pawlenty's signature no-new-tax approach, vowing to fix a nearly $6 billion deficit solely by curbing spending. Dayton, meanwhile, says he'd raise taxes on the wealthy.

The prominent Republicans choosing to support a third-party candidate, Tom Horner, a former GOP strategist, and spurn Emmer include former Govs. Arne Carlson and Al Quie, former Sen. David Durenberger and former state party Chairman Bill Morris. When a group of middle-of-the-road GOP legislators recently followed suit, state party Chairman Tony Sutton caused a stir by denouncing them as "quislings," a word linked to a Norwegian Nazi collaborator.
But the GOP is especially salivating over the prospect of knocking off liberal icon Feingold, who has played catchup lately. Businessman Ron Johnson, a political upstart who has spent millions of his own money attacking Feingold on federal spending and labeled him as a "career politician," has connected with independent voters who went to Feingold in the past.

That includes Lee Mikell, a 36-year-old prison supervisor from Racine who says he feels let down by Feingold and Democrats. "I don't like being in a guild with Republicans, but I'm going to give him the opportunity," Mikell said. "Who else do we have?"