Work To Be Done

Being a wanna-be wonk who writes a political blog and does a show at a talk radio station whose audience is frighteningly well-informed and follows politics pretty obsessively.

And while they didn’t obsess on the subject, I certainly grew up in household where politics was an occasional subject of discussion.  I have been more or less aware of politics and how they work for a long, long time (albeit I didn’t become aware enough to be a conservative until I was 20 or so).

So it’s always a mild culture shock to realize not everyone is the same.  In an intellectual sense, I know this, because probably 90% of the people who actually bother to vote at all make up their minds about their decision in the weeks, if not hours, before they go to the polls.

Still, it astounds me how out-of-touch some people are.

No, not the people who don’t follow politics.  I’m talking about those of us who do.

I was talking with a business associate the other day.   He’s a small businessman – one of the people at whom the Dayton tax hikers are directly aimed.   He’s successful at what he does. He makes over $150K a him and his spouse  for a couple of thousand dollars a year.

And he asked me what I thought about the campaign.  And who the GOP candidate was.

Now, some wonks would roll their eyes – but I know business people  who work 70-80 hours a week, and raise families, and try to save a little some mental headspace for themselves; politics doesn’t make the final cut on their schedules, any more than following the NBA or the PGA does on mine.

And so I told him all about Tom Emmer – especially what’s in it for small business people if Emmer wins.

Now, there was little danger the guy was going to vote for Dayton.  He remembers Dayton’s disastrous run in the Senate.  And he’s gonna vote for Emmer in two weeks, and I suspect his wife will too.

But I walked out of there thinking that it’s a travesty that there is so much as a single small businessperson in this state that has been left in any doubt which candidate is going to help them, and which one is going to screw them blue.

The MNGOP and the Emmer Campaign have some work to do.

18 thoughts on “Work To Be Done

  1. A business guy like your business associate didn’t have to worry much about predatory taxation with a guy like T-Paw in the governor’s mansion. For the most part T-Paw was able to protect him from the ministrations of MAK, Pogey and the rest of the gang in St. Paul. I imagine that after a while, you take that sort of thing for granted, especially since it’s likely been imperative for him to keep his focus primarily on what’s right in front of him.

    The only reason Dayton and Horner are even in the conversation here is because T-Paw helped to insulate the state from some of the more rapacious moves that DFL intended over the last four years. In a place like Wisconsin, you had a Democratic governor (Jim Doyle) who signed on to the nonsense he got from his state legislature. The economy has been worse in Wisconsin as a result; Doyle didn’t even try to run for re-election this time. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party brand in Wisconsin is so toxic that the state will elect a Republican governor, senator and at least two new Republican members of Congress, one (Sean Duffy) in a district that has been in the hands of the Democrats for over 40 years.

    I honestly think that a lot of people don’t really understand what’s at stake, or why a Dayton administration would be so comprehensively disastrous. That’s the point that Emmer needs to drive home these last two weeks.

  2. I know people like that. There are a ton of very nice and very smart people out there who don’t care about and don’t follow politics. I have conservative Christian, pro-life, traditional marriage relatives who belong to the ultra-liberal ELCA and when they drop $50 in the collection plate each week are, with all due respect, clueless about what where their money goes. But hey, just like the Democrat who is a Democrat because “my father was one, and my grandfather was one”, people stay in a left wing, anti-semetic church because their family has belonged to the congregation for 100 years.

  3. Mr D….I am amazed at what is going on in Wisconsin this fall. I have batted back and forth between Wisc and Minnesota for 20 years, and was always frustrated with Wisconsin voting liberal (except for Tommy T). Walker (who I think is a weak candidate) is going to win. JOHNSON IS GOING TO WIN. and Duffy, from Ashland, my home area, is going to win. This guy is really impressive. Dave “a lousy $3 million” Obey has been occuping the seat since 1969. It is time for him to go away. Maybe him and Jim Oberstar can room together in their homes in Maryland.

  4. Yea, they do!

    I drove through East Bloomington along Old Shakopee Road/98th St from Normandale Blvd. to Cedar Ave this morning a saw a lot of Dayton signs, but what really struck me is the number of Ann Len-spend-ski signs! There were over 50 homes that had more than one, apparently to give the appearance to other idiotic liberats that she has more support than she does.

    Funny though, even in the yards where mulitple demonrat candidates were displayed, I only saw 3 Mark Ritchie signs. I fact, I think that I have only seen about 6 of his, total.

  5. “Still, it astounds me how out-of-touch some people are.”

    It’s about dollars and cents (sense?), so it bewilders me as well.

    “Funny though, even in the yards where mulitple demonrat candidates were displayed, I only saw 3 Mark Ritchie signs. I fact, I think that I have only seen about 6 of his, total.”

    Richie probably is thinking he doesn’t have campaign to win election when certainly he knows how to steal one.

  6. Chuck, I grew up in the Fox River Valley. There were always a lot of union folks who worked in the paper mills who were fairly reliable Democrats, but a lot of them became Reagan Democrats in the 1980s. They understand how a lot of Democratic initiatives, especially cap and trade, would probably put them out of a job. The 8th CD, where I grew up, has been more Republican than Democrat over the years and the incumbent, Steve Kagen, is a nasty piece of work. He got swept in back in ’06 but he was always going to be endangered. He’s going down for sure this time. The Republican challenger is a guy named Reid Ribble and he’s almost the quintessential Tea Party challenger — think he’s a roofing contractor.

    As for Obey — he was smart enough to realize what was coming. Duffy might have beaten him outright.

  7. KSBANDLE Says: “Sounds like you might be setting up the loss for Emmers?”

    Poppycock!!! Certainly there’s more work to be done, no need to throw in the towel, save the towel for Dayton’s tears (or restraints)!

  8. Sounds like you might be setting up the loss for Emmers?

    I’ve been saying consistently that Emmer’s going to win by three points. I’ve been saying it since June. I’m saying it now.

    Not sure where you could possibly get any other idea. Perhaps from the same place Dayton gets his budget plan?

  9. Nope! Not at all!

    That area of Bloomington is pretty much blue collar dems, so I expected nothing less. In the more conservative West, nary a Dayton sign can be seen.

    Two of my neighbors have Horner signs, but the Emmer, Severson and Mazerol signs are very prominent. There is one guy who also has three Meffert, two Dayton and one for Steve Elkins, all illegally placed on the easement between the curb and the sidewalk.

  10. I think you are right Mitch – a lot of people put politics in the same area of their brain as I do world cup metric football (soccer). They live their lives, work/run their businesses and amuse themselves in someway with all of their leisure time. Every couple of years there is an election and they read a few newspaper columns to get up to speed on a few of the major races. They hate all the commercials (just like I hate all the hype leading up to the world cup) and just want it to be over. This year is different, as was 2008, because more people than usual are jacked up about this election. Even with the additional interest, the turnout still won’t be what I think it should be (>90% participation by eligible voters) so it doesn’t suprise me that your associate is not moved one way or another at this point in time.

  11. Mr D…did you see the Kagen you tube….”I’m writing the health care bill. What do you want in it?” Ohhhhhhh it’s a Macaca moment.

    Hey, got my third large slick full color mailing saying Horner is a Republican. Dayton must figure he needs Horner Democrats to win.

  12. Chuck, that was paid for by the “independent” Alliance for a Better Minnesota. I got two today. One of them has “Tom Horner: How a Republican political insider cashed in on the 35W bridge disaster” printed on the front.

    Mark Dayton is a sleaze bag. The entire DFL needs to take a long, hot shower after this campaign. Lots of soap.

  13. Missed that one, Chuck. Will definitely check it out, though. Kagen is richly deserving of what he’s about to receive.

  14. “The entire DFL needs to take a long, hot shower after this campaign. Lots of soap.”

    I’d recommend they use 100% NaOH !!

  15. When was the last time an audience in Duluth ran a stinking Democrat out of a debate on a rail?

    If Oberstar has lost the range, Dayton has los the range. Emmer by 8.

  16. Don’t be so quick to dismiss Dayton up there, swiftee. He holds the magic Solon card in his hand. Solon is to the Iron Range/Duluth, what Kennedy is to Taxachussetts. People know the name and reflexively vote for it without thinking about it.

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