Distinction Without A Difference

Doug Grow thinks he's seeing a corpse. It's really a vampire.

With the re-election of R.T. Rybak, Grow - as close to the official voice of the DFL as exists as Minneapolis (compared to Grow, Nick Coleman really isn't a DFL monkey!) - declares the "old" DFL dead:

To a dirge-like version of Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'," the old DFL plodded out of relevance -- to use a 1960s term -- Tuesday night in the Minneapolis mayor's race.

Peter McLaughlin and his supporters are the '60s turned gray. McLaughlin had a noble liberal background, he had an all-star lineup of the DFL's old guard supporting him and he had big labor.

And they all sank like a stone. McLaughlin got just 37 percent of the vote against R.T. Rybak, the incumbent mayor who obviously has won over just about everyone -- except the old guard.

And by "Old guard" we mean...

Former Council Members Jackie Cherryhomes, Tony Scallon and Joan Campbell...

Pretty much the whole rogue's gallery of Minneapolis' recent DFL history.

But what exactly does this mean?

For those of you who've never been in Minneapolis, let me show you the differences:

• Old DFL - High taxes, High "Services", excessive government intervention in the market, massive special interest patronage.
• High taxes (packaged as civic duties), High "Services" (packaged as gifts from a loving government), excessive government intervention in the market (sold to the public as entitlements), massive special interest patronage.

It's really just a different Younger Old Boys and Womyn's Club, with a slightly newer PR package.

And in Saint Paul...well, more later.

Posted by Mitch at November 14, 2005 06:58 AM | TrackBack