Flaking, Part II

This morning, we addressed Aaron Brown’s look at HD6B, up on the Iron Range, where political newcomer Jesse Colangelo is running a helluvva race against DFL/union kommissar Jason Metsa.

Today – some older but equally intrigueing news that I just haven’t had time to get to; there is one precinct in Saint Paul that is ever-so-close to voting Republican.

The Pioneer Press’ Frederick Melo reported on this a few weeks back:

The intersection of Cretin and Selby avenues is the heart of Ward 4, Precinct 6, a precinct that, like the other 96, mostly has long favored Democrats in local, state and national elections.

But in this precinct, Republicans have managed to trim the Democrats’ lead by larger and larger numbers in the past 10 years and even chose Republican Sen. Norm Coleman over Democratic challenger Al Franken in 2008.

Looking at the results at the SOS site, it’s one precinct where Tony Hernandez’ 2010 campaign came within eighit votes of Senator Dick Cohen.

Read the whole fascinating thing, assuming you didn’t a few weeks ago

And then ask yourself – if a precinct in a moldy blue one-party city like Saint Paul – aka Pyongyang on the Mississipi – turns red, what does that mean?

I mean, the fall of the Soviet Union started with protests in Gdansk – the Thunder Bay of the Baltic.

From small things, big things one day come.

(Optimistic?  If you’re not fundamentally an optimist, then there’s no point in being a Republican in St. Paul).

2 thoughts on “Flaking, Part II

  1. When I first moved to St. Paul (in my present location, anyway), Senator Cohen himself knocked on my door while campaigning. I asked him if he expected any difficulty getting re-elected, he said he expected to win. He then said that the tide would eventually turn. Clearly, that hasn’t happened, if anything the Democrats are even more institutionalized in City politics. I note however, that on a small scale, my neighborhood is leaning further to the right. As older people move on, and younger people starting families move in, fewer are taking a straight DFL line, even those who aren’t really on board with some of the Republican social platforms.

    Senator Cohen, by the way is a nice guy. So is Michael Paymar, the representative in my district. Too bad neither of them have ever given a second thought to their positions.

  2. A lack of intellectual diversity leads to…well, more of a lack of diversity. If you are not exposed to the other side, you will just become more extreme.

    So a moderate corner of St Paul could lead to more Republican types there.

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