So on Friday night we attended the Minnesota Gubernatorial Forum here in town. It was... er… “interesting.” On the one hand I praise the sponsors for opening the forum to any declared candidate. Such a move serves democracy. On the other hand... let's just say there were moments when my gaze was directed downward as I attempted to recall song lyrics rather than react to the words I was hearing from unserious and/or seriously “out there” candidates.
There were seven candidates in attendance, four DFLers (Tina Liebling, Erin Murphy, Rebecca Otto and Paul Thissen), two GOPers (Phillip Parrish and Ole Savior) and one Independence Party candidate (Jenny Rhoades). DFLers Tim Walz and Chris Coleman, neither of whom were able to attend, nevertheless submitted prepared opening statements.
THE GOOD: all of the DFL candidates in attendance outshone the GOPers and the Independent. I haven't yet made my decision whom to support in our non-binding precinct caucus on 06 February, but I am impressed by the experience and policy positions of several of my choices.
THE BAD: two of the candidates, Ole Savior and Jenny Rhoades, were simply unserious. Savior is a perennial candidate for something in Minnesota, although prior to 2010 he ran as a DFLer (some might recall that his 2010 running mate for Lieutenant Governor was an Elvis impersonator). Rhoades was simply out of her league and woefully ill-prepared. I admit to having had some sympathy... until her response to the question of how to reform our state's criminal justice system drifted into talk of making incarceration less comfortable for inmates because they've got beds and showers and all. Yeah, you read that right.
THE UGLY: but if you thought that was bad, and it was, let's wade into the open contempt for immigrants and minorites vocalized in a wide array of responses by GOPer Phillip Parrish. Ya know, on second thought, let's just acknowledge that he’s enough of a crank to merit attention from the SPLC. Parrish is a drown-government-(and-Muslims)-in-the-bathtub kinda guy, a conspiracy theorist and a xenophobe whose boasting about previous experience in Naval Intelligence (thus his presumed confidence knowing how to deal with “THEM”) seems just a tad embellished. I’d like that fact-checked. Kudos to the moderator from the League of Women Voters who exercised far, far more restraint than I could have summoned in her position.
Parrish is also, in the end, not a very serious candidate. None of the less-than-obviously-batshit GOP candidates attended this particular forum. And that is the perhap the most interesting pending question about the 2018 Minnesota gubernatorial contest. While the DFL has a fairly deep roster of candidates with substantive legislative and/or executive experience, it appears that the MN-GOP is generally unexcited by their current crop of declared candidates, thus the on-again-off-again rumors that Norm Coleman, Tom Emmer, Kurt Daudt and Tim Yawnlenty Pawlenty could/should enter the race. I suspect that there is considerable negotiating within the upper leadership of the state and national GOP regarding who will run not only for Governor but also US Senate… except Michele Bachmann, of course, who is awaiting a sign from God. The filing deadline for both offices is 5:00pm on 05 June… We'll see.
So, what’s on your “good,” “bad” and “ugly” list today?
RSVPS
1. EagleOfFreedom
2. Bleeding Blue
3. DoingBusinessAs
4. momomia
5. ptressel
6. Kay3295
7.
MAYBEES :
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Puerto Rico Kos
Stay tuned, big Daily Kos meet-up on January 29th with Chef Bobby Neary aka newpioneer. Daily Kos is sending Kelly Macias from our Editorial Staff and Chris Reeves from our Community Building Staff to do some original reporting about Puerto Rico coinciding with the SOTU address.
PUERTO RICO RSVPS
1. newpioneer, organizer (kosmail him to connect)
2. Kelly Macias, Daily Kos Staff Writer
3. Chris Reeves, Daily Kos Community Outreach Organizer
4.
MAYBEES :
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Netroots Nation 2018