Paul Supporters: Your Best Days Could Still Be Ahead

In the last few weeks, since Ron Paul got eliminated from the running for the nomination, I’ve seen not a few Minnesota Ron Paul supporters waxing mildly suicidal that their guy didn’t pack the gear to go the distance in the primaries and caucuses.  Paul nabbed three states, if I recall correctly, including Minnesota – giving them what I think it was Shot In The Dark’s associate editor First Ringer once called (I’m paraphrasing closely, I think, maybe) that delusion that you could pull it off that’s so well-known to insurgent dark horse candidates from Obi Sium to Ross Perot.

Unlike most states, the Paul camp is running a candidate in a high-profile race here in Minnsota.  Unfortunately, Kurt Bills is a low-profile candidate – a freshman State Rep from Rosemount – running against the pleasant, innocuous, mistake-averse Amy Klobuchar and the media Praetorian Guard that shields her from inadvertent controversy.  The poll numbers show it. In a just world, Bills would be competitive – but in Minneosta, Republicans have to make their own justice.   Not to say long shots have no shot – ask Chip Cravaack or (shudder) Jesse Ventura.  Work like hell for Kurt Bills – I know I will do my best too.  But Hollywood money, a decade of name recognition, and stifling media pollyannaism are a tough row to hoe, and the polls are, at the moment, showing it.

And that’s why if you’re one of the flood of Ron Paul supporters in the Fourth and Fifth CDs that so stirred up the GOP’s pot last spring, I’d like your attention.

Because you do have a chance to shock the world.

Tony Hernandez in the Fourth CD is one guy whose platform is completely amenable to any  Ron Paul supporter.  He’s running in a tough district, sure enough…

…but it’s a district that is winnable.  Betty McCollum is a Zombie Democrat; she sleepwalks to 70-30 victories every two years pretty much because she’s a DFLer.  But redistricting made the Fourth much more Republican-friendly, adding Stillwater, Woodbury and Afton to the mix.  It’s not the same district it was even two years ago.

And here’s the deal – people just don’t care about Betty that much.  Fewer and fewer people turn out to vote for her every two years; I know DFLers who haven’t voted for her in a looong time.  She’s an empty skirt; when she give a speech, she’s like a substitute teacher who’s straining to control a class, and failing.  Her crowning “achievement” in a district with plummeting home values, a metro area school system with among the worst achievement gaps in the country, and unemployment lagging the rest of the state?  Saving us from the scourge of military ads in NASCAR.

Oh, there’s method to the madness; Representative McCollum sees that redistricting has changed her district, and is looking for a singular “Achievement” to show she’s “fiscally conservative” (cutting a tiny little fleck of spending, against the trillions in deficits she’s voted to create) while not cheesing off her base (she’s cutting military spending, although only the most innocuous kind).

She knows that there is a more conservative current in her district than she’s seen before.

In part?  She knows you, the Paul supporters, are out there.  And she’s trying to placate you.

So here’s the deal.  If you, the mass of Ron Paul supporters who swept into power in the Fourth, can pull together and each get a friend or two to come to the polls this November and vote Hernandez, you can do something for Ron Paul’s movement – including its future, Rand Paul – that Ron Paul himself couldn’t do: win a significant, Congressional office with someone not named “Paul”.

And if you are Marianne Stebbins, the organizer from Excelsior who engineered the epic statewide Ron Paul sweep in the caucuses, and were able to get Ron Paul himself to throw down on Hernandez’ behalf – what the heck, maybe even come here and seriously campaign for Tony as well as Kurt Bills – it’d sure put a wind in your movement’s sails, now, wouldn’t it?

Because antics in Tampa notwithstanding, whether you’re a recent grad who came out for Paul last spring, or a shadowy organizer from the Lake, you gotta know that it’s only by putting candidates in office that you actually earn real, long-term relevance.

And Betty McCollum is so freaking beatable, why on earth not do it?

4 thoughts on “Paul Supporters: Your Best Days Could Still Be Ahead

  1. I would like to add my appreciation for the supporters of Ron Paul.

    As in this piece, Mitch has frequently pointed out that all of you have a chance to make a real impact. Since we all want to get rid of free spending liberats, sgettop the dictatorial overreach of government, balance the budget and protect our Constitution, please join us conservatives.Let’s get it done!

  2. P.S. to my last; I have no clue what “sgettop” means, so i will correct it to reflect the word that I wanted there; stop!

  3. Tony Hernandez supports a full audit of the Federal Reserve, desires Constitutional paths (ie. a declaration) of war as opposed to a runaway executive branch, is not much of a drug warrior, and wants to reign in federal spending and secure power for the States as opposed to Washington. As a libertarian, it is easy for me to support him.

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